Things Change
by Endless Questions
Summary: Voldemort is gone and the Trio is back for 7th year. Hermione has been chosen as Head Girl, and who better to be Head Boy than Draco Malfoy? Will sharing a dorm bring them together? Will things take an unexpected turn? How will they cope? M for content. ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay guys, this is my first Harry Potter fanfic so be gentle, but I do have a Twilight one too, and am working on a second with a friend of mine. Just some background info this is kind of at the end of fifth year in the books at the Ministry, Voldemort, Bellatrix and Lucius Malfoy are dead, but Sirius lived. The story itself really starts with our favorite people back at Hogwarts for their seventh year. So not really fifth year, but that's when the important stuff happened, just to have that cleared up. Please Read and Review. Rated M for…well pretty much everything M is a rating for lol.**

**DISCLAIMER: I will only post this once since the fact that I DO NOT own Harry Potter will never change**

**CHAPTER 1**

Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked down to breakfast looking tired after a long night. Dumbledore had added holiday dances to this year's schedule, for fifth years and up of course, unless otherwise invited. And so, since Hermione as Head girl had to help, the "Golden Trio" could be found helping set up decorations late at night this last week. Thankfully, the dance was tonight, which happened to be a Saturday so they could perhaps get in a nap before they had to get ready.

"Wow guys, you really did good on the decorations," Ginny complimented, sitting down next to Harry and kissing him good morning.

"Thanks Gin, you know, you could have helped so we hadn't had to stay up so late getting it done," Ron replied shortly.

Ginny frowned, "excuse me?" she asked softly.

"You heard me," Ron retorted, pulling a bowl of eggs closer to him so he could shovel some onto his plate.

"As if you didn't know that I had detention all week! How could you think I didn't want to help? You know very well that I tried to get Snape to let me out to help and you know he said no! What more did you want me to do?" she snapped back.

"It's not our fault you got detention in the first place," Ron threw back.

Ginny let out an angry sound but didn't reply, knowing that Ron wouldn't drop it any time soon. She turned to Harry, "so are you ready for the dance tonight?" she asked.

Harry smiled at her, "you bet. I can't wait to see you in your dress."

"I bet," Ginny replied with a grin. "So what's on the agenda today?"

"Sleep," Ron said abruptly.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. After her little jealousy streak in sixth year, she had gladly thrown her intimate liking for Ron out the window and moved on to Justin Finch-Fletchly, though this relationship hadn't lasted more than two months. Ron was single now, as was Hermione, but when Ron had asked Hermione to the dance, as friends, she'd refused, saying she'd rather go alone than let it seem like they were a couple, besides, she wanted a partner that would actually dance with her. Ron had stormed off and asked the first person he'd thought to, who happened to be Luna Lovegood. Since Harry had been able to tell that Luna had liked Ron since fifth year he wasn't surprised when she said yes immediately. And so Hermione was indeed going to the first Hogwarts Halloween dance all alone.

"I personally am going to do my essays first, then maybe get some sun, and then _maybe_ take a nap…" Hermione replied.

Ginny smiled and winked at her. "Yeah, I have some homework to do too, maybe me and Harry could sit with you and do it and then we could go to the lake or something…"

Hermione gave her a grateful look. She could almost never get Ron and Harry to do their work ahead of time, so they were always scrambling the night before it was due and she liked having someone support her in this. "That sounds like fun."

"It sounds okay…" Harry said, yawning.

Ron let out a heavy sigh that splattered egg across the table, causing Hermione to stand up with a disgusted little shriek, egg particles in her hair and clinging to her clothes. Before Ron could get out an apology, Hermione glared at him and turned on her heel, walking out the door amidst jeers and laughter from Malfoy and his friends.

She returned to the dorm she shared with Malfoy and went to the shower, washing off all the egg and changing into different clothes before going back to the main dorm room and sitting on one of the couches fuming. Eventually she pulled out her homework and prepared to start her Potions essay. As she finished her first paragraph Ginny and Harry appeared, lugging their bags.

"You alright Mione?" Harry asked, sitting down in one of the armchairs.

"Fine, I just wish Ron wasn't such a child sometimes," Hermione said resignedly, as if she'd given up hope of making him grow up.

"Um, Hermione I think what he did today was an accident," Ginny offered.

"Fine maybe, but that doesn't excuse everything else he does. Like that argument with you this morning, that was so childish of him, he knew perfectly well why you weren't there. And he should have been proud of you, sticking up for Harry the way you did when Snape was bad mouthing him."

"He'll grow up eventually Hermione."

Before Hermione could reply Malfoy's voice interrupted, "I said go away Pansy, I need to think! Don't let her in here, no matter what she does," he instructed the portrait that hid the door to the room. When he finally turned around he glared at them. "Having a little party in our dorm Granger?" he demanded. "Maybe I should invite some of my friends; it'll be more interesting then. Oh but where's poor Weasel? Missing in action?"

Hermione didn't waste her time getting up. "We're doing our work Malfoy, you're welcome to join us if you think it'll help your grades…and you could invite your friends if you think they'll benefit at all…though I doubt it. And I wouldn't know where Ron is, what he does isn't my concern. But where's poor Pansy? You two having a fight again?" she asked, glad she'd seen the scene between the two Slytherins so she could use it against him.

"That's none of your business Granger. And in case you were concerned, she will be going with me to the dance tonight. Oh that's right, that's kind of a sticky subject with you isn't it, since you don't have a date?" he sneered.

"Why do you have to be such an asshole Malfoy?" Ginny demanded.

The blond Head Boy shrugged, "why would I be any different Weasley?" he replied.

"Well, this might seem optimistic of me, but I was under the impression that sharing a dorm would have made you two at least civil to each other."

Hermione let out a laugh this time. "There's not a chance of that Ginny, Malfoy is almost never here. Honestly I'm surprised to see him now, but I guess he had to escape his wonderful girlfriend…"

"I have better things to do than sit here conversing with Granger all day long. Just because we're forced into this doesn't mean I have to like it. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to my room, and I don't want you stupid Gryffindors bothering me."

After he was gone Ginny let out a sound that reminded Hermione of her cat. "That boy is impossible! Why does he have to be like that? You two have lived together for 2 months now; you'd think you'd at least have something civil to say to each other."

Hermione looked down at her Charms essay, "well like I said Gin, he's almost never here. The only time he comes is to sleep; he's even gone before I wake in the morning. With so little contact, it's not surprising that we aren't civil to each other."

Harry had been silent for a while, his quill slightly suspended like he planned to write something, but his face was so unfocused that Hermione knew he wasn't thinking about what new bullshit to write in his essay. "You alright Harry?" she asked finally.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter 2! Hope you guys get into this story more, I have like 12 chapters written already! Please read and review!**

**CHAPTER 2**

"Malfoy's never here? Where does he go?" he asked.

Hermione shrugged, "I don't know, I've never exactly asked him before. You better keep it down or he'll hear us."

Harry shook his head, "I did the Muffliato spell as soon as he left."

Hermione was surprised, "wow, that was quick thinking Harry."

He grinned but sobered quickly, "so Malfoy leaves this room in the morning and doesn't return until you're either in bed or about to be?"

Hermione shrugged, "pretty much, though you do get times like these where he and Pansy are fighting and he comes here instead… why are you so interested Harry?"

"Well doesn't it seem odd to you that he's never around?"

"Not really, most of the time I prefer it to him being here."

"But what if he's up to something? What if he's planning something?" Harry asked.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione set down her Charms book and turned fully to Harry. "Harry, you've got to stop this. The war is over. Voldemort is dead; the Death Eaters are all locked up. You have to stop thinking like this; you have to go on with your life. Not everything someone does is cause for suspicion. Have you even thought that maybe Malfoy can't stand being around me? Have you thought that maybe he's just with his friends in the Slytherin dungeon?"

"I'm telling you Hermione, there's something fishy about him."

Hermione sighed, "I'll believe that when you have evidence to support your accusation Harry. I know you're usually right about this stuff, but he has no reason to be sneaking around. I think you're just being really paranoid."

"No I'm not Hermione, but if I can I'll get your evidence. You done Gin?" he asked, indicating her piled books and lack of quill movement.

"Yep, you?" she asked.

"Yep. Come on, let's go outside. You coming Mione?" he asked, getting to his feet and holding his hand out for Ginny.

"I'll just finish this essay quick and maybe see you out there…"

"Okay."

Hermione sat back, having already finished the essay she'd said she wasn't done with. She just couldn't stand the thought of being around Harry when he was like this, so certain that everyone was still out to destroy the world.

"Potter and Weasley left did they?" Malfoy said from the door of his room. He was leaning casually against the frame, his arms crossed, watching her.

"Yes." Hermione couldn't think of a smart comment to make back.

Malfoy didn't say anything for a long time and Hermione almost thought he'd gone back in his room. "You and Weasel not talking again?" he asked, making her jump.

"Um, well we aren't today…he's acting like a child again and it starts to wear on you… but if you're asking if we're fighting again, no not really."

"So you're not upset that he's taking Lovegood to the dance tonight?" Malfoy asked, walking forward into the room and sitting down in one of the armchairs.

"Of course I'm not upset. Why should I be? I turned him down so it's only natural that he ask someone else."

"You turned him down? When?"

"He asked me a few days ago, when we were doing decorations. He asked Luna to go with him the next day."

"Oh poor Granger, passed over so quickly," Malfoy said with a leer.

Hermione frowned. "I was glad he passed over me. I told him I didn't want to go with him so he moved on to someone who might want to. That happens all the time."

"Not to me," Malfoy said arrogantly. "No girl I've ever asked out has ever turned me down."

Hermione gave him an ugly smile, "maybe you're asking the wrong people then. I know plenty of girls who would rather have a fist fight with the Whomping Willow than date you."

He raised an aristocratic eyebrow. "Oh? Name four."

"Ginny, Luna, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones…the list goes on and on Malfoy."

"Really? You know, I think I'd have to disagree with you Granger. See, the only one I believe would actually do that is Weasley. Luna is too…brain dead to know the difference, Abbott and Bones are more intelligent than that, and so they'd rather date me than get the shit kicked out of them by a tree. Weasley would do it though; she's always been a stubborn little bitch."

"Watch your mouth Malfoy," Hermione snarled, getting to her feet and letting her wand slip to her fingers from inside her sleeve. "Why do you do that? Call people those terrible names?"

"It's what they are…Weasley is a stubborn little bitch blood traitor, Potter is scarhead Chosen one, Weasley two is the weasel king, and you, you are a filthy mudblood, not even suitable to take to a dance."

Hermione glared at him, refusing to let her tears fall, refusing to let him see her tears at all.

"Hit a nerve did I Granger?" he asked.

"Alright, if we're assigning names, here's yours. You're a pathetic little man, a bastard Slytherin pureblood."

He shrugged, "say what you want, insults don't bother me."

"You really are a heartless bastard." Hermione got to her feet and walked out the door. Soon she found herself by the lake, the wind shifting her hair about her face as she wrapped her arms around herself and stared off into the water. It wasn't fair that she was the one without a date. It wasn't fair that she had a beautiful dress and a great hairdo picked out, and it wouldn't matter because she would be walking into the dance alone. No one had asked her except Ron, and she refused to go with him.

"Hermione!" came a voice she knew only too well.

"Hello Neville," she said quietly as he came up to her.

"Hi, um, hey listen. I was talking to Harry and Ginny earlier and they told me that you didn't have a date for the dance tonight. So…I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?"

"Really Neville? You want me to go with you?" she asked, feeling a ray of hope.

"Of course. I would have asked you earlier but I thought you were going with someone. I still can't believe no one asked you."

"I'd love to go with you Neville. And…thanks for asking me."

"Well this way we can go in together, instead of each of us going in alone… Are you alright? Your eyes…"

"I'm fine; I just got some sand in my eyes so they're watering. Thanks again Neville."

"Yea. Oh by the way, the decorations are awesome."

She nodded. After a moment of silence Neville exhaled.

"Well, I was going to go find Harry again, tell him the news, but if you'd like some company…"

Hermione shook her head, "no I'm fine Neville. You go and tell Harry, I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

"Alright. I guess I'll see you later then." And he did something she had not expected. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

"Uh, yeah bye," she said after getting over the shock. She watched him walk away before staring back at the water. So now she had a date, one she knew could dance and she had no worries. Then why did she feel like something was off? As she watched, the giant squid flung it's tentacles up into the air and snatched a bird that was flying by. Hermione sighed and turned away, not wanting to watch. But as she turned she saw a figure going into the Forbidden Forest. Though the person was far away Hermione would recognize that platinum blond hair anywhere. What was Malfoy doing in the forest?


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, here's the deal. I'm not sure if I want to keep this as an M rating…it just feels a little off. Not that I can't do the lemons, but I'm feeling like it's not going as well as I hoped. I'm giving it one more try this way, to see if I get a bigger response. Let me know what you think I should do. If rating stays the same, next chapter will have Hermione Draco lemon :) Enjoy and please, please, please review. Thanks so much.**

**CHAPTER 3**

By lunch everyone had heard that Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom were going to the dance together. But Hermione ignored the jeers and jokes, she was thinking about what Malfoy was doing. She'd told Harry about it and he agreed they needed to find out where he was going, but they still needed a plan.

Hermione spend the rest of the day in her room alone, contemplating the problem. Finally she realized what she had to do, even though it repulsed her to even think it. She was lucky that she always kept a supply of Polyjuice Potion with her now, because she would need it. She decided it had to be tonight. Dumbledore had decided that as the first dance, it would not last past 11:30, and so Hermione would be able to change into Pansy and ask Malfoy what he was up to tonight.

She decided not to tell Harry her plan, he probably wouldn't like it. At six, she started getting ready. She did her hair first, since it would take the longest. Using her wand and spells from a magazine she had open, she curled and twisted her hair into a very pretty up do. Makeup was next and she applied this sparingly, she didn't want it to be overdone. The dress she was wearing to this dance was mail order and she'd had to make a few alterations with her wand to make it fit how she wanted it to. The dress was red, not an overwhelming red, but a slightly dark red with lots of beads and rather generous cut. She'd also added a bunch of gold beads to add to the Gryffindor colors. Her necklace was a simple gold chain with a large red gem. Her earrings matched the necklace. Finally she was ready.

Malfoy was nowhere in sight when she came out of her room and Neville was waiting patiently on the other side of the dorm door. His eyes widened when he saw her.

"Hermione, you look amazing," he said with a smile.

"Thank you, you look very handsome too," Hermione replied truthfully. He did indeed look good in his black tux and red tie. He held out his arm for her to take and she smiled gratefully.

They weren't the first ones to the Entrance Hall, but they were close. It wasn't yet 8:00 so the Great Hall doors were still closed.

"Hermione! You look so good!" Lavender Brown gushed, coming up to them with Seamus, who looked just as surprised by this changed Hermione.

"Thanks, you look nice too." Lavender was wearing a purple dress the color of her name.

"Oh have you seen Ginny and Harry?" Lavender asked.

"No why?" Hermione asked back.

Lavender pointed. Standing there with Ron and Luna was a girl Hermione vaguely recognized as Ginny. Her hair was in an elegant bun on her head and her dress was emerald green like Harry's eyes, silk, and was so form fitting that it left almost nothing to the imagination. It looked very good on Ginny. The boy next to her was much more recognizable as Harry, with his messy black hair and his glasses, but his black tux made him look much older and his green tie matched his eyes.

"Ginny! You look so beautiful!" Hermione said after rushing to them. Neville was right behind her and nodded at Harry and Ron.

Ginny smiled then did a double take as she looked at Hermione, "Hermione, that dress is amazing! Chiffon? It's so…you! And your hair is beautiful."

"Thanks. Harry, you look handsome. Luna, pretty as always I see," Hermione complimented, taking in Luna's pale blue dress. Hermione completely ignored Ron.

"Yes, I do feel pretty, but it's you that everyone will be staring at Hermione. You didn't even look this beautiful at the Yule Ball, everyone will be drawn to you," Luna said in her dreamy voice.

Hermione blushed and looked down.

"That's a compliment Mione," Harry teased.

"I know, oh look they opened the doors." Hermione and Neville led the way into the Great Hall and looked around. The only difference from the rest of the day until now was the band that was set up near the Staff table. Small circle tables were set up like at the Yule Ball and Hermione led the way to one of these. Neville sat down next to her and Ginny sat on her other side. Most couples followed their example, though some stood back near the walls. Hermione wasn't surprised that these were mostly Slytherins. It took only a moment to pinpoint Malfoy. He was at the front of the group, wearing all black, Pansy next to him in an equally black dress. When her eyes went to his face she saw that he was looking at her too, though he looked away immediately when their eyes connected.

None of the couples were dancing and as she was Head Girl, Hermione knew it was her responsibility to get things started. She stood up and all eyes turned to her small movement. Without hesitating Neville stood with her, held out his hand for her to take, and led her onto the dance floor. They stopped in the middle and Neville put one hand on her waist and took one hand in his. Hermione put her free hand on his shoulder and when the music started they started moving. Hermione had never told anyone, but she'd taken dance lessons before coming to Hogwarts and so she knew this dance well. She couldn't help noticing that instead of everyone joining in; everyone was watching them, which made her feel self-conscious.

When the song ended, Harry and Ginny came out onto the floor, followed slowly by more couples. Soon it was just like any dance, everyone jumping around and dancing together.

"You two were amazing, I had no idea you could dance Mione!" Ginny said over the noise.

"Thanks, though I would have felt better if you'd come out too!" Hermione replied.

"What and ruin the pretty picture you two make? No way! That floor belonged to you two and I think everyone here knew it. Will you dance again later?"

"Gin, I'm dancing now!" Hermione replied, knowing what she meant.

"No, I mean just you two, please?" she asked.

Hermione looked up at Neville, who hadn't left her side all night. Even as they spoke he was standing behind her, holding her waist as they danced. He grinned down at her. "Maybe we'll do the tango this time?"

Hermione smiled at him, "it's a good thing I wore the dress I did then huh?"

"It's a very good thing. You're the most beautiful girl in this room Hermione," Neville replied seriously.

"Thank you," she replied softly.

After two more songs Ginny was literally begging them to dance again. Finally Hermione complied and she and Neville got into a tango position. Ginny had run up to the singers and told them what was happening and so they struck up a tango tune. Almost immediately Hermione and Neville started moving, causing people to move back to form a circle around them. Hermione had never imagined dancing intimately like this with Neville Longbottom, but knew that he was an excellent dancer and they probably did look good together. She also knew that a lot of people probably thought they looked like they were having sex standing up, but she didn't care. The tango was one of her favorites and Neville made it even better because he clearly enjoyed dancing with her.

They finished with Hermione bent backward slightly over Neville's arm, his face rather close to her cleavage. Hermione came back to reality amidst cheers from the crowd. Taking Neville's hand she led him to a table and sat down, out of breath.

"Wow Neville, I had no idea you could tango!" Hermione said with a smile.

"I didn't know you could either, but you're the best tango partner I've ever had. You don't think we over did it do you?" he asked.

"Who cares? It's a dance; we're supposed to dance so that's what we did. Too bad if no one else can do what we can. But right now I need a break, I'm feeling rather warm."

"You want to go outside? We could sit on the steps for a while…" Neville offered.

"Thanks Neville," Hermione said, letting him pull her up and lead her outside. Hermione didn't see the angry eyes of Ron Weasley follow them, or the contemplative ones of Draco Malfoy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay I lied, and I'm sorry, this isn't the lemon chapter, that's coming up though. Hope you like this one! Please read and review!**

**CHAPTER 4**

Hermione sank down on the steps with a sigh, her feet hurt already from the heels and she gladly took them off. Neville sat down beside her, his long legs stretched out in front of him.

"Hermione, why did you say no when Ron asked you to the dance?" he asked quietly.

Hermione was surprised by this question. "Oh, um, well he wanted to go as friends. But I thought after how I acted last year, people would think we were together and I didn't want that. So I said no to save myself having to tell everyone that we aren't together…"

"Oh, that makes sense. Are…are you disappointed that you had to come with me?" he asked.

She looked at him searchingly. "No Neville, I'm not disappointed. I was glad that you asked me. I hadn't really thought you would, but when you did I was glad. And you're such a wonderful dancer… I'm very glad I came with you."

He didn't reply, just stared into her eyes. Very slowly he came closer and Hermione felt herself moving toward him, drawn forward. Their lips met and Neville's hand went behind her head to hold her there. Hermione moved her hands up to his neck and into his hair as their kiss deepened.

Suddenly Hermione pulled away, breathing deeply. "I…I'm sorry Neville. I think we should go back inside," she said quietly.

He nodded; not looking the least put out, smoothed his hair and got to his feet. Hermione put her shoes back on and took the hand he offered her.

The dance was still going strong when they walked back in. Harry and Ginny were dancing and laughing with Ron and Luna. Glancing around to see if anyone noticed their absence, Hermione's eyes fell on Malfoy, who was looking back at her. He sneered when he noticed that she noticed him looking. Hermione looked away from him and let Neville pull her into the crowd.

"Alright everyone, we're going to change things up a bit. Now on the count of three you are to find a dance partner from a different house," said the main singer.

Almost everyone looked at each other like this guy was crazy. And then he started counting and everyone began scrambling around for a partner. Contrary to common belief, most couples were from the same house so almost everyone had to find a different partner. Hermione looked around her. Everyone was being claimed. Harry was now with Susan Bones, Ginny had been unhappily claimed by Blaise Zabini, Luna was dancing happily with Neville, and Ron was with a rather unpleasant looking girl Hermione didn't know. She turned again looking for a partner when someone took her waist.

Turning, her mouth fell open when she saw Draco Malfoy in front of her, his arms around her waist. "What do you think you're doing?" Hermione snapped at him.

"I would think someone as smart as you would know dancing when you saw it. Especially as you have shown how accomplished you are at it."

"I know what you're doing, I meant why are you doing it with me?" she demanded. Though she was less than happy about the situation she was in, she took the opportunity to discreetly pluck a black hair from his clothes.

"You would rather dance with Longbottom than me? That hurts Granger," he said with a smirk.

"Neville is nice to me, Neville doesn't make fun of me or call me names, Neville is a gentleman. You, Draco Malfoy, are not nice to me, you do make fun of me and call me names, and you are not a gentleman. So, can you honestly ask why I would prefer Neville to you?"

"Is that where you two went? You wanted to show you're appreciation to him?" Malfoy asked, lifting his eyebrow suggestively.

Hermione gasped and the sound of her hand hitting his face echoed through the room, even above the music. And then she began winding her way through the crowd that was now standing still, watching her. She made it into the Entrance Hall before she let the tears fall.

"Hermione!" Neville yelled behind her, coming out of the Great Hall.

Hermione quickly wiped away the tears before he caught up to her.

"Hermione what happened back there?" he asked softly.

"I let Malfoy get to me is all. It's nothing Neville."

"That did _not_ seem like nothing Hermione! You just slapped Draco Malfoy in the face in front of half the school!" he said.

Hermione shrugged, "he said something I didn't appreciate, and now he knows it. I'm serious Neville, its not important."

"Hermione," he said with an agitated sigh. "Why won't you talk to me?" he asked. It was only now that Hermione realized how much Neville had grown up. To look at him, you saw a composed, rather good looking young man. And when you saw him do magic, he was no different from anyone else. He wasn't the slow boy who couldn't do anything anymore.

It was her turn to sigh. "Neville, he just said something I didn't like okay? I was stupid for reacting to him but I couldn't help it. He implied that I was a slut okay? Just let it go."

Neville's mouth was open as if he wanted to say something but couldn't get anything out. Finally he said, "how could he think that?"

"He said that I must have been showing my appreciation to you for bringing me to the dance when we went outside. In my definition that's calling me a slut."

Neville shook his head. "I should go say something to him. It's not right what he said to you!"

"No Neville, please just drop it! I just want to forget about it all," Hermione replied.

Neville looked hurt at these words. "Forget about it all? You mean, about everything? Or just Malfoy?" he asked.

"Oh Neville," Hermione said softly, "of course I didn't mean about….us…I just…I'm so confused and upset right now. I think I really need to be alone. I'm sorry if I've ruined the rest of your night."

"It was worth it Mione, all of this, it was worth getting to be your date to the dance. Well…good night then," he whispered, walking in to kiss her on the cheek.

"Yea, good night Neville. And thanks again."

Neville nodded and watched her retreat up the marble staircase toward the dorm she shared with the boy she'd just slapped in the face.

Hermione changed out of her dress and into some shorts and a tank top when she finally got to her room. Hanging her dress on the door of her closet, she let her hand trail down the fabric, as if to imprint the memory of this night on her mind. After a moment she went to her bathroom and began taking her hair down, watching in slight dismay as the destruction of her wonderful hair do caused her to go back to looking like the plain old muggle-born Granger.

A little while later she heard footsteps and then Malfoy's door slam.

With a sigh, she went to her cabinet and pulled out a small vial of Polyjuice Potion. Though she was even more against this now that she and Malfoy had had their fight than she had been before, Hermione felt she had to do this. She sprinkled the hair she'd gotten off Malfoy at the dance earlier that night onto the top of it and waited for it to dissolve into the solution. To her surprise it turned a soft shade of red. Closing her eyes she drained the whole thing in a few gulps.

She watched her reflection as her features changed into those of Pansy Parkinson. When the transformation was done, she took a deep breath and silently opened and closed her door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's the first lemon! Hope you like it. Oh, by the way, I might not update as quick as I did this time…I just thought you guys might want to get to the good part lol. Well, enjoy and don't forget to tell me what you think! Review!**

**CHAPTER 5**

"Draco?" she called softly into his door, knocking slightly, hating the sound of his name coming from herself.

"Pansy?" he asked, sounding shocked. "What are you doing here? How'd you get in?" he demanded.

"Granger let me in," Hermione said, making her name come out as if she were disgusted by it. "Please Draco…I…I want to talk. You were so distant at the dance." This was true, every time Hermione had looked at him he'd seemed to be drifting farther and farther from his date.

Malfoy sighed and stepped back, allowing her into his room. Hermione had never been in here and tried not to seem too interested, since she knew Pansy had been here before. "So what did you want to talk about Pansy?" Malfoy asked, sitting down on the bed.

Hermione went to sit next to him uninvited. "Well, I just…I noticed that you've been gone a lot recently. I mean, sometimes I don't know where you are, and it makes me worried for you," Hermione said.

"You don't need to know about everything I do Pansy."

"I know Draco, I just…I wish you would let me in more. I feel like I'm a stranger to you. I feel like…like _Granger_."

Malfoy frowned, "Granger? What does she have to do with anything?"

"Yes, you probably tell her about as much as you tell me. I feel left out." On impulse Hermione put her hand on Malfoy's leg. He looked down at it then up at her before covering it with his own hand.

"Pansy…I really don't think this is any of your business."

"But Draco…please, at least tell me it's not dangerous, not something that is going to get you into trouble."

Malfoy sighed again and lifted his hand to rub her arm. "I promise it's nothing like that Pansy. It's just something personal that I can't tell you about. But I promise it's not dangerous, or troublesome."

Hermione smiled at him. "See, doesn't it feel better to tell me these things?"

Malfoy grinned back, and it was one of the first real smiles Hermione had ever seen on his face. "Now that I've told you my secret, what do I get in return?" he asked.

"But Draco, you didn't really tell me you're secret, just that you had one."

"Oh you truly are a sly one aren't you?" he said, coming closer and beginning to kiss her neck. Though her brain wanted to be repulsed by this, Hermione's body wanted it. After all, she was an eighteen year old girl, it was just natural. She heard herself let out a tiny sound of approval and her hands tangled into Malfoy's hair.

Malfoy began kissing his way up to her mouth and Hermione was shocked when she let him kiss her. Her shock grew as she opened her mouth and let his tongue inside. Soon they were in a very heated make out session that Hermione did not want to end. Malfoy's hand began moving up under her shirt and Hermione made no move to stop him. In fact, her own hands were doing a little traveling themselves, up under _his_ shirt.

"Oh Pansy," he moaned against her lips and he began kissing her neck again.

"Draco," Hermione breathed, unable to help herself.

"I'm so sorry for getting mad at you. I shouldn't have."

"I forgive you," Hermione replied, needing more than he was giving her.

"And I'm sorry for dancing with Granger. I don't know why I did it, I just…you were right about her all along."

Hermione paused and decided that a lapse of memory was forgivable given their state of passion. "What was I right about?"

"That she's just a mudblood. I just, seeing her tonight, I don't know what came over me. forgive me."

He was now kissing her shoulder and Hermione couldn't help it, "I forgive you everything Draco." And with those words, she did indeed forgive everything he'd said and done to her since they'd met seven years ago.

When he began pulling her shirt up, she gladly helped, then did the same to him. She'd transfigured her shorts into a pair of sweatpants, thinking that Pansy wouldn't be caught dead walking around the castle in little skimpy shorts. These were easily shed by Draco's deft hands. And then she was laying on his bed in a bra and panties. And he was looking down at her with nothing but his boxers on, his hair messed from where her hands had run through it.

"I've never seen you wear this bra before, where did you get it?" he asked, fingering the lace of the dark green bra she'd put on. This told her that Pansy and Draco had at least gotten to the point of taking their outer clothes off.

"My mother sent it to me, she thought I'd like it. Apparently I'm not the only one huh?" she asked with a smile.

Draco grinned before undoing the bra and slipping it off her. And then his hands and lips were on her breasts and Hermione thought she was going to die from the pleasure. And as he pulled her panties down, Hermione wondered if virginity transferred with appearance.

"Draco," she said softly, plaintively.

"I know Pansy; I know you've never done this. But it's a special night for us right? You want this don't you?" he asked quietly, looking into her eyes.

And Merlin curse her to the depths of hell, she did want this. And now she didn't have to be afraid that he would realize she wasn't Pansy. "Yes, oh yes I want this Draco."

He was kissing her again and she didn't even realize he'd taken his boxers off until she felt him against her thigh. And then she was pulling at him, frantic to feel him joined with her. As he pushed into her, his kiss deepened, trying to distract her from the pain they both knew was coming. And Hermione found herself getting lost in that kiss.

And then he thrust into her all the way and she gasped, trying to hold in her scream of pain. "I'm sorry," Draco whispered, kissing her again.

She shook her head, "I'm alright. Just give me a second," she said through the pain. And slowly the pain receded and she felt him inside her, wanted more. Instinctively she thrust her hips up and heard him gasp.

"I'm ready now," she said with a teasing smile. He grinned back at her and began thrusting. His hands went to her butt and urged her legs up around his waist. Locking her ankles behind him, Hermione rode with him. He kissed her again, now panting from exertion. Suddenly Hermione felt it building, it was coming and she needed to feel release.

"Draco!" she called.

He thrust more deeply into her, going faster, knowing what she needed. And another moment passed before they both went over the edge of pure bliss. After a pause, Draco rolled off her and lay by her side, catching his breath. Hermione lay where she'd been, slack from complete pleasure, her eyes closed.

After a while, Hermione sighed and got to her feet. "What are you doing?" Draco asked, leaning up on one arm to watch her.

"I have to get back to my dorm."

"Stay here with me," Draco said, taking her hand before she could finish pulling her pants on.

"I can't Draco, I have to go back to my room before anyone notices I've been gone too long."

Draco sighed. "Fine, I'll walk you back down."

Hermione felt panic rising in her, "no, no Draco. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. I'll be just fine. Thank you for offering though, you're such a gentleman." And she kissed him long and hard. "To get me through the night," she whispered before disappearing out the door. _To get me through the years more like_ she thought to herself.

She could feel the potion wearing off already and afraid that Malfoy might follow her out, she left the dorm altogether. She sat in the hall until she was sure the transformation was complete, transfigured her pants back into her shorts and changed her tank top to a light blue color. When she walked back in, Malfoy was sitting in the living area staring at the fire. He looked up at her, then at the clock, and arched an eyebrow, taking in her very short shorts and thin tank top.


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay guys, here's the next chapter. As you can tell, these characters are a little OC, and if you don't like it I don't know what to tell you. I hope this chapter will explain about Pansy a little. And someone said something about Hermione just having sex with him without thinking, well…just imagine if you were in her position, not even thinking that he would ever find out it's you, a really hot guy, you're both teenagers…just think about it lol. Anyway, if you're still confused let me know and I'll send you a PM and try to explain a little more in depth. Thanks for the reviews, and keep them coming!**

**CHAPTER 6**

"A little late for a stroll isn't it?" he asked.

Hermione didn't want to fight with him, especially after what they'd just shared. "I couldn't sleep and decided to get some air."

"Ah, Longbottom wasn't with you was he?" he asked.

"What concern is that of yours? And in case you must know, no, Neville was not with me. I was alone."

"Oh, because you know, neither of you came back after you slapped me at the dance…people might have gotten the wrong idea. Not to mention, you're wearing next to nothing."

Hermione sighed, "yeah, about that. I'm sorry for hitting you, but you really were out of line talking to me the way you did."

Malfoy's eyes were wide. "Are you, the Great Granger, apologizing?"

"Yes, Malfoy, I am. I know when I've wronged someone and I usually try to make it better. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

Hermione was about to walk into her room when Malfoy spoke, "by the way, where did you learn to dance like that?"

She turned to looked at him, "I took dance lessons before I came to Hogwarts, and a couple summers after…why?"

"No reason, it was just surprising to see someone like you dancing that way."

"Someone like me?" she said, her voice turning resolutely cold. "I see, good night Malfoy."

She closed her door with a snap behind her and after muttering silencing spells, flung herself on her bed and cried. She shouldn't have expected Malfoy to have changed toward her, especially since he didn't even know it had been her he'd made love to, but she'd let her imagination get the better of her.

The next morning, she came out of her room to find Malfoy sitting on the couch. This was a shock to her, as she'd never once seen Malfoy in the morning before going down to the Great Hall. He glanced at her as she walked by to the door but didn't speak.

Ginny and Harry were already sitting at the Gryffindor table when she arrived.

"Oh Hermione, are you alright?" Ginny asked.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" she asked.

"Well, because of what happened at the dance last night, with you and Malfoy…"

"Oh, right. Yeah I'm fine. He just said something that I didn't appreciate and let my anger get the best of me. it's fine though." She looked around and noticed that Ron was missing. "Where's Ron?" she asked.

Ginny and Harry exchanged a grin, "he um…well he's sulking," Harry replied.

Hermione frowned, "why?"

"He…wasn't very happy about you going to the dance with Neville. We think he was jealous…"

"Jealous? Of what?"

"Hermione, I don't think you realize how beautiful you were last night. And then you and Neville were like attached at the hip and you were doing dances no one else could ever dream of…I think he was jealous that it wasn't him with you, jealous that you and Neville looked so good together," Ginny explained. "And maybe a little mad that you chose to go with Neville over him…"

Hermione didn't reply but sat thinking about this new problem. And then she felt someone sit down next to her. Looking over she saw Neville, who was smiling at her happily.

"Hi," he said.

"Hello."

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

"Yep, I'm just fine, thanks."

"Okay…hey, when we finish breakfast you want to go down to the lake with me?" he asked.

Hermione considered quickly before nodding, "sure, it'll probably be one of the last nice days we have until April…"

He beamed at her and tucked in. glancing around Hermione noticed the look Harry and Ginny exchanged.

Before she even comprehended what was had happened, she and Neville were sitting in the grass near the lake, silently watching nature. There were almost no clouds in the sky, it was a clear blue, and there was only a small breeze, ideal Quidditch weather for Harry and Ginny.

Neville cleared his throat, "Hermione…last night…last night was the best night of my entire night."

Hermione smiled softly, "it was rather nice wasn't it?" He couldn't know that she wasn't thinking about him and the dance, but what had happened afterward.

He nodded, "Hermione, ever since first year you've been there to help me. you never talked down to me, you seemed to like me…"

"I do like you Neville," Hermione said.

His smile grew, "Hermione, I've always liked you, and I'm hoping…Hermione, will you go out with me?" he asked.

Hermione stared at him, shocked and unable to speak. She hadn't thought this was where the conversation was going. Finally she was able to make her lips move. "Oh Neville, I…could…could I have a few days to think about it? It's not that I'm against it, I just don't know yet if I'm up to being in a relationship…I want to make sure I'm making the right decision."

Neville nodded, "I expected you to say that, you never do anything without planning."

Hermione had to fight to keep a blush from her face. What she'd done last night had been done with no planning at all. "Thank you."

"Come on, let's go back to the castle and see what Harry and Ginny are doing," he said, standing and offering her his hand. They were walking into the Entrance Hall when they heard the arguing. Quickly they moved back behind the door.

"But Pansy! After last night…you said—"

"Last night Draco? You barely spoke to me the whole night! You ignored me, and why should I expect different, especially since we were only going together because we'd broken up and didn't want to find a date last minute. Now that it's over what do you want?" Pansy replied shortly.

"But…last…don't you remember?" he asked plaintively. Hermione and Neville stayed put, not meaning to eavesdrop but knowing the two Slytherins would be pissed if they walked by.

"What are you talking about Draco?"

"You…you came to my room last night. We…don't you remember any of it?" he asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. After Granger hit you and you went for your walk I went back to my dorm and stayed there. I didn't come see you last night, why would I? I have no reason to be there anymore."

"But you forgave me! You said you forgave me!" Malfoy said almost urgently.

"I think you should see the nurse Draco. You can ask Astoria, she was with me the whole time. We stayed up almost the whole night talking about what a jerk you are…"

"You were there, I know you were," Malfoy said quietly.

"Well as entertaining as your impending insanity is, I really have to be going; I'm to meet Astoria and Blaise in the common room."

Hermione heard the Slytherin girl's receding footsteps and waited a moment before walking into the Entrance Hall. Malfoy was still standing there, as if Petrified. Hermione led Neville up the stairs and to the Gryffindor Common Room, where she had a feeling Harry and Ginny would be. Indeed, they were sitting entwined in a chair together, talking.

"Hey guys," Neville said, sitting down on the couch nearest them and patting the space beside him for Hermione. "Guess what."

"What?" Ginny asked.

"Malfoy's going crazy."

Harry frowned. "What are you talking about Neville? Is he mad about something?"

Neville shook his head, "no, like insane crazy. Him and Pansy were just fighting. He was saying that she'd forgiven him for something…I guess they split up. Anyway, he was saying she'd forgiven him last night after the dance and she said she was in her dorm the whole time, with that Astoria girl. He's going bonkers."

Harry seemed surprised, "did you notice anything last night Mione?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head, "no, when I went up after I slapped Malfoy I went to my room and changed…I think I must have passed out after that because I don't remember anything until I woke up this morning." She was immensely relieved that she was able to pull this lie off well enough.

"Hum, that's really odd," Harry said.

"Hermione," Ginny said.

"Yeah?"

"Could you teach me to dance like you did?" she asked.

Hermione smiled, "I suppose I could, but I don't know why you'd want to learn. You'd almost never use it."

Ginny sighed, "that's true, and I don't know if I'd want to dedicate the time for something that I won't use often. Never mind, I was caught up in how amazing you two were last night."

The portrait hole opened then and Ron came in, followed by Dean, Seamus, and Lavender. When he saw Hermione his face darkened, as if he were mad.


	7. Chapter 7

**Ok guys, here's the next chapter. Please don't kill me for what happens in the chapter lol, it just kind of happened and it needed to be done for the story to go correctly. And I hope you like the end, if you don't let me know, not that I'll do anything about it but maybe in the next chapter I can change things a little…let me know either way. Please, please, please, read and review :)**

**CHAPTER 7**

Knowing he couldn't avoid them, he walked up and sat down in an armchair. "Harry, Ginny, Neville," he said acknowledging those three and ignoring Hermione.

"Ron," Ginny replied.

"Having a good day?" he asked them.

"Eh, it's been okay…long night last night, lazy day today," Harry replied, sounding a little uncomfortable about the animosity between Ron and Hermione.

"I totally understand, I'm beat."

"Am I invisible?" Hermione demanded suddenly.

Ron looked at her, "I don't know what you mean," he said.

"You're totally ignoring me!"

"Well, now you know how it feels," Ron replied, his volume rising.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione demanded.

"Last night! You didn't look at me once the whole night, didn't say hi, ask to dance, even acknowledge that I was there!"

Hermione surged to her feet, Ron a second behind her. "Maybe I was trying to make sure you understood why I didn't go with you in the first place!"

"Please enlighten us, o' smartest little muggle-born on earth!" Ron almost shouted.

Hermione's face was getting red and blotchy, a sure sign she was getting very mad, "I didn't want to go with you because I knew you'd take it wrong! You'd think I was interested in you, and I'm totally not! And then, everyone else would think we were together and I'd spend the next two months telling everyone I saw that I don't like you! So I avoided you during the dance because I knew you'd act like a little child and try to make me do something I didn't want to do!" this all came out in a shouted rush. Everyone in the room was now watching this display.

"You're a spoiled little muggle you know that?" Ron yelled, "all you ever think about is how things are going to impact you! How things are going to change in _you're_ perfect little life! After all that shit last year with you being jealous, now you're just going to turn around and pretend like you don't have feelings for me?"

There were gasps all around the room at his words. The only people who would say Hermione was a spoiled little muggle were Slytherins, not to mention Hermione was one of the few people who never thought about herself.

"You're a bastard Ronald Weasley. Oh, and by the way, I'm not _pretending_ that I don't have feelings. I truly do not feel anything for you right now expect loathing. How could you say these kinds of things to me? After all we've been through? Spoiled, Ron? Me? Maybe you should take a look in the mirror and try telling yourself that I'm the spoiled one, I bet it won't go down too well when you can see the spoiled one looking back at you!"

"Shut the hell up Hermione! How could you do this to me? You turn me down to go with _Neville_? Of all people you chose Neville?"

People were now glaring at Ron. Some of them weren't great friends with Hermione but they all knew she didn't deserve to be treated this way. And almost everyone liked Neville, they didn't like hearing him bad mouthed.

"Ron that's enough," Ginny commanded, getting to her feet.

"No Ginny, it's not enough!" Ron replied.

Ginny rolled her eyes and pulled out her wand, "Ron, I said that is enough." Her voice was dangerous now, a tone that few people ever wanted to hear from her. But Ron was beyond caring.

"I said it bloody hell isn't enough you daft girl!" he yelled at her.

Harry got up too, "Ron, mate, stop," he said in a normal tone.

Ron turned to glare at Harry. When he opened his mouth Harry said calmly, "if you don't stop I'm going to owl your mother and let her straighten you out."

Ron gaped at him, "you would not!"

"You bet your ass I would. Ron, the things you said to Hermione just now were horrible. Things I wouldn't think any Gryffindor would ever say, perhaps a Slytherin though. Your mother would be appalled if I were to tell her exactly what you said to her."

Ron had the grace to look slightly ashamed before he glared at Harry again, "oh, I see, you're taking her side?"

"Ron, I'm not taking sides, I'm just telling you that you're wrong," Harry said.

Ron didn't reply, just looked around once, glared at Hermione, and went up to his dorm. Hermione heaved a sigh and looked at Harry and Ginny.

"I think I'm going to go," she said finally, knowing everyone was listening to her.

"Come on Mione, don't let that asshole ruin the rest of your day!" Ginny said. "I swear, I don't know what got into him!"

"You really can't tell Ginny?" Lavender asked, walking up to them.

"What are you talking about? You know what's wrong with him?" she asked.

"He likes Hermione! And he's all mad because she didn't want to go to the dance with him and then she ignored him! He's jealous!" she said triumphantly.

Hermione and Ginny shared an amazed look. Then Hermione shook her head, "I really don't care if he's jealous. He couldn't see me when the tables were turned, so why should I see him now? I'm going back to my dorm, I think I need to be alone for a while. Don't worry Gin, I'll be fine," she said when Ginny opened her mouth to speak.

Malfoy was sitting on one of the couches when Hermione returned from the Gryffindor Tower. She still couldn't believe that Ron had said those terrible things to her. She sank down on an armchair and drew her legs up under her.

"You alright Malfoy?" she asked, feeling oddly sympathetic.

He looked up at her, "huh? Oh, yea I guess…"

"It doesn't sound like it. You want to talk about it?" Hermione asked.

He frowned, "why would you want to hear my problems?"

Hermione shrugged, "maybe to forget my own…"

He snorted, "what problems could you have besides studying for your next exam and taking dance lessons?"

Hermione allowed a small wry smile to flash across her lips, "well…I would say it's a problem that one of my best friends thinks I'm a spoiled selfish know-it-all muggle-born…"

Malfoy frowned again, "I didn't know you had any Slytherin friends."

"I don't. It was Ron that called me that."

"Oh? The dream team breaking up?"

Hermione shrugged again, "who knows? Nothing lasts forever. Now what's your problem?"

Malfoy looked like he wasn't going to tell her at first. "I'm going crazy. Last night I swear Pansy was here with me, but today when I tried to talk to her about it she said she wasn't. She even had witnesses. I don't understand what's going on."

Hermione didn't say anything. They were having a real conversation, without name calling or curses or shouting, just two people talking about their problems.

"You…you didn't let anyone in last night did you? Pansy said you let her in…"

Hermione shook her head, "no, I didn't let Pansy or anyone else in here last night."

He stared at her contemplatively. "Then…oh my god. It was you?" he demanded.

Hermione stared at him. "You came to my room last night disguised as Pansy! We…! Why?" he demanded.

Hermione was blushing, "I saw you going into the forest yesterday and I needed to make sure you weren't doing anything bad or dangerous. I knew you wouldn't talk to me as me so I used Polyjuice Potion to turn into Pansy. What happened…I didn't plan on it Draco," she said softly. "The thought didn't even…I didn't…it just happened."

He stared at her, "and what did you find out? Was it worth the information?" he asked.

Hermione looked down at her hands, "I found out almost nothing, just that it wasn't dangerous. And was it worth the information? No, but it was worth the other thing that happened."

Malfoy looked shocked by her confession. "You thought the sex was worth it?"

Hermione nodded, "I…I didn't think my first time would be like that…"

"Like what?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry it's been so long, I've been doing college stuff, eh… hope you like this chapter and as always review please!**

**CHAPTER 8**

She looked at him, "well, for a long time I thought my first would be Ron, and I imagined that he would be more clueless even than me and so it would be a not very nice experience. With you…I must say I thought it was wonderful. You were gentle and took your time and didn't act the way I was sure Ron would have… but…you _did_ think I was Pansy…" Hermione couldn't keep a note of sadness from her voice.

Malfoy looked rather pleased with himself, "well, I should have known something wasn't right really. Pansy just doesn't have…I don't think she's really capable of feeling something like that at the level you obviously did. Maybe I should have realized then that something was wrong… Maybe deep down I knew it wasn't her…"

"You're not mad?" she asked.

"I'm positive that I should be, but I seem to have lost the energy to be mad."

"Oh, and I wanted…I need to apologize for slapping you at the dance, I shouldn't have let what you said get to me." she was sure she'd apologized for this already, but felt obliged to do it again.

"Yes, it was rather low wasn't it? I think you owe me Granger," Malfoy said, getting to his feet.

"Oh? And what do you think you deserve, Malfoy?" she asked, unable to keep a tiny smile from her face.

"I don't know, I'm sure we'll think of something though won't we?" he asked, coming toward her.

Hermione straightened up in her chair and put her legs down to the floor. "We?"

"Oh yes, we," he barely breathed as he put his hands on the arms of her chair and leaned toward her.

"So what are _we_ going to do about me owing you?" she asked, moving her head back slightly away from him.

"Well, for starters you can go put that red dress back on and come back out here," Draco said after a thought. "We'll go from there."

Hermione had to wait for him to move before she could stand and was slightly confused when he held out his hand to help her up. He'd never done this before but she took his hand anyway.

Soon she was back in the main room, dressed in the red dress, her curly hair newly brushed. She didn't feel as pretty now as she had when she was all done up, but she blushed when he looked at her.

"Come here," he commanded. Hermione obediently walked to where he was standing. And then Draco used his wand to start the radio and Hermione burst out laughing.

"You want to dance?" she asked.

"Yes, but this time you'll be dancing with a good partner," he said, lifting his hands into a position she was only too familiar with.

"Neville is a good partner. He's the best one I've had, and I was in dance for three years."

"You could do so much more with a partner like me, come on," he said, indicating his hands.

Hermione hesitantly put her hands in his and they started dancing. She wasn't surprised that he'd chosen the Tango, but she was surprised by the intensity between them, the electric current that was running through her body. She was surprised by how intimate their dance was, more so even than she'd been with Neville. Through the whole dance their bodies touched each others, their lips were inches apart and when the dance ended, Hermione was pressed tight up against him, one hand along his cheek. They were looking into each other's eyes and breathing harder than normal.

Without speaking Draco started walking, forcing Hermione to walk backwards, his arms still around her, until her back met the wall. Not taking his eyes from hers, he began to lean in, until finally he was kissing her. Hermione's hands moved of their own accord to tangle into his blond hair, and his moved to her back, to hold her against him more firmly. Hermione moaned against his lips and felt him smile.

"You sound a little eager," he whispered, trailing his lips down her neck. She moaned again, as if in conformation. He chuckled before kissing her lips again.

And then he was picking her up and carrying her to his room. He dropped her on his bed and she smiled up at him, pushing herself up toward the pillows more as he came onto the bed and crawled over so she was lying under him. He moved his lips closer to hers but didn't kiss her, teased her. Growing impatient, Hermione put her hands around his neck and kissed him instead. Soon she was undoing the tie holding her dress together at the back and pushing it off, raising her hips off the bed to get out of it. And there she was, lying on his bed in nothing but her underwear. Draco ran his hands up and down her body and suddenly let out a moan, the first sound of that type he'd uttered.

"Now this seems more fair."

"What?" she sighed.

"Well, you've seen me naked, it's only fair that I've gotten to see you naked now too," he said, kissing her just below her neck.

She giggled softly, "ah, but I'm not naked yet Draco," she purred. It was amazing that one night of six had changed her whole outlook on him, such as the sound of his name on her lips, it sounded much nicer now to her ears.

He chuckled, "indeed you are not," he said before pulling the rest of her clothes off her body.

"Now you?" she asked.

He was silent and unmoving for a moment. Then he said, "do you want me to be naked Hermione?" he realized that that might have been the first time he'd ever said her first name.

"Yes, yes I do," she said, with no hesitation.

He began stripping his clothes off at top speed, and when he was done he fell back on top of her to kiss her some more.

Soon Hermione was panting, moaning for him and Draco looked down into her eyes, "do you want me Hermione?" he asked.

She looked up at him for a split second before nodding, "yes, though I know I shouldn't, I want you."

Draco paused, "let's make a deal. We can do this whenever you want, as long as we keep it a secret between us," he said, kissing his way to her ear.

"It's a deal," she sighed, clutching his head.

And soon they were on their way toward bliss, Hermione pushing her hips up and Draco thrusting down into her. They were both panting and moaning, Hermione's legs were tight around his waist and her hands where digging into his back, there would be fingernail indentations at the least when they were through. Suddenly Hermione felt it building and she tried to urge him on but he kept to his pace resolutely. Within minutes she came and felt him spill inside her as he let out a low moan and buried his face in her shoulder.

After a little while he disengaged and lay down beside her. When Hermione got her breath back she leaned up on one elbow and looked at Draco, "that was even better than the first time," she said quietly.

Draco grinned, "I agree, and this time I actually know that it's you and not Pansy. I don't know how I could have thought you were Pansy last night, she always was a frigid bitch, I don't know why she would be different in bed. You however," he said, rolling toward her and on top of her, "you are full of passion; you're willing to give as well as get."

Hermione looked away from him and tried to roll over onto her side. Draco let her, confused by this change. "Hermione?" he asked.

"I don't understand, we…just yesterday we were at each other's throats Draco. We hated each other. Now…we're sleeping together. I don't…I'm so confused. I mean, last night was a mistake that could have happened to anyone. But this…we knew full well who we were and still we did it. I…don't you hate me?" she asked, not turning over to look at him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay here's the next chapter. I know I don't update every day like some people but at least I update within two weeks. I hope you enjoy and please review and tell your friends about me, I love feedback!**

**CHAPTER 9**

"No, not anymore. I don't know…all my hatred…it seems so useless now. Actually, if you must know, since the beginning of term the only reason I've been acting like a prick is because I didn't know how to not. I've been changed for a long time now Hermione, but I couldn't express it, so I did what I'd always done and dealt with myself later. I'm not the same person. I'm not full of anger and hate, pure blood love or whatever you want to call it. I don't see people for their ancestors anymore, only for themselves. I suppose it helps that my father died in the battle and so I didn't have him poisoning my mind all the time. And then…I saw you walk into the dance with Neville, looking more beautiful than all the other girls there combined and I knew for sure that I was a changed person, to acknowledge that you, a muggle-born, was beautiful, and to want to dance with you. and then…to add to it, you and Neville danced together like no one else in that room could believe, when you Tangoed I knew that I wanted you."

Hermione turned in a flash, a glare on her face, "is that all this is then? A lay? Something you can take to your friends and brag about? Tell the whole school and make my look like a whore?" she demanded.

Draco looked shocked, "no, no Hermione. I didn't mean I wanted you like that…I wanted _you_, the person you were. I saw you dancing so intimately with Longbottom and I was crazy with jealousy!"

Hermione sat up, not even caring that she was naked. "I don't understand."

"Hermione, I care about you, very much. I don't want you only for your body, though it would be motivation enough for many, but for yourself. I came to respect the woman you are and wish that you were mine. Do you think…if I wasn't a changed person I would have…even could have done what we just did? What with my purity issue? You must see that I'm not the same Hermione," he pleaded, sitting up too.

"I can't handle this right now! Any of this!" she said suddenly, sounding a little panicked.

"What can't you handle?" he asked.

"Any of this. Neville asked me to be his girlfriend after breakfast, Ron is jealous and likes me, and now you…you care for me…I can't handle it all right now. I mean, just a week ago I was the book-worm Granger that no one wanted, and this week, I'm seeming to be the most popular girl to ask out."

"Longbottom asked you out?" Draco asked softly.

Hermione nodded.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I said I needed a few days to think about it, that I never did anything spontaneous. I know, I was a hypocrite because last night was totally not in the plan."

"Is that why you said you'd think about it? Because of what happened between us?" he asked.

Hermione looked at her hands, "Draco, you were my first, and you were very good, gentle, kind, more than I thought you would be. And I will admit, there was a small part of me that hoped that you'd see through the potion and see me, want me, instead of Pansy. I don't know, maybe that's why I wanted to wait to give Neville an answer. Maybe it was because I'm _not_ ready for a relationship. Maybe my life is so busy already that I didn't know if I could fit a boy into it… I don't really know the answer to that question Draco."

"You know, I never thought I'd like hearing my name on your lips, but I find it very seductive," he said, leaning forward and kissing her shoulder. Hermione smiled.

"Would you stop, we have a very serious situation here Draco."

He lay back with a sigh, throwing an arm over his eyes. "What do you want me to say?"

Hermione sighed too, "I don't know. But…if we're going to continue this, like our deal stipulates, then I can't very well have a boyfriend. But if you care for me like you say you do, then I don't want to just share your bed. Which would mean that we'd be dating and then Neville will be angry with me because I lied to him for you. And then there's Ron. He was so mad at me today, he's never called me the names he did today," Hermione said almost absently, drawing her legs up under the covers and resting her hands and head on them.

"Weasley is not worthy of you Hermione. He's just jealous because he thought no one but him would ever like you, so he'd always be able to come get you when he was damn well ready, after all his exploits. Hermione," he said, sitting up again, taking her shoulders and looking into her eyes, "what do _you_ want?" he asked.

"Do you want the truth?" she whispered.

Draco rolled his eyes, "no, I want you to lie to me Hermione. Of course I want the truth."

Tears were swimming in Hermione's eyes now. "I want you Draco. For weeks it's been you." She was shocked by this confession. On no part of her conscious mind had she wanted him, somewhere deep within her this longing for her enemy must have been growing, manifesting itself.

He smiled and pulled her to him, hugging her tightly. "Then you shall have me. Until you don't want me anymore."

"I'll want you forever Draco. But…"

They broke apart to look at each other, "but you don't want to say anything to anyone yet…I knew you'd feel that way, if I ever got you… It's fine with me Hermione, as long as you want it that way, as long as I get you, and no one else does."

"Well, I'll still be friends with Harry and everyone…"

He grinned, "I know that, I meant romantically. Oh, by the way, I always kinda liked Harry, he's…daring, sly, braver than anyone I know, in some ways he would have made a good Slytherin, but I can't see him as anything but a Gryffindor. So…how do you want to do this?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for starters, what am I to you?"

"Draco, I…I think I love you."

"Well then, Hermione Granger, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked gallantly. Hermione almost lost her breath, thinking he was proposing.

"Yes," she said with a teary smile.

"So, all we have to do is pretend not to like each other like that, and not tell anyone that we're together… it's pretty simple actually."

"I doubt it will feel so easy once we're in classes and have to ignore each other for long stretches, especially when your body is so nice that I'll want to rip your clothes off."

Draco laughed before pulling her back down to the bed and keeping her silent for a long time.

When they were sated, Hermione spoke again, "Draco, where do you go, when you go off into the forest?"

He looked at her. "Well, a week after we arrived here I was feeling closed in so I went for a walk…I was a little ways into the forest when I saw this creature. I couldn't believe it at first, but there it was, a baby unicorn standing in front of me. As I took it in, I realized that it was hurt. Since it seemed completely alone, I took it to a place I thought was safe, constructed a kind of pen for it, and since then had been helping it back to normal. I'm happy to say, she has made a full recovery and I'll be letting her go tomorrow."

"A unicorn? You've been going into the forest all alone for two months for a unicorn?" she asked, knowing she sounded skeptical.

"Yes, see I would have taken someone with me, but I thought that the idea of being immortal would be too much for some people, and I'd grown rather fond of Mione by the time I thought to invite someone with me."

"Mione?" Hermione asked, arching a brow.

He shrugged, "I named her after another beautiful creature, what can I say?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and kissed him soundly.

**Okay so that was chapter 9. I know his story seems far-fetched but it was the only thing I could think of that made sense enough. It had to be something that he would have to do alone and that wasn't dangerous to anyone. I have a question for you though. Would you like it more if I did like a previously on thing? Where it kind of backtracks to what happened in the last chapter so you don't feel completely lost when you first start reading? Or should I leave it the way it is? Review and let me know what you think. Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers by the way : ) Oh, and if you're into Twilight make sure you check out my other two stories! Reversal has gotten a lot of positive feedback so you should definitely look at it, and It Must Be Fate is getting a slow start but it's going to be really good, give it a chance!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I am SOOOOOO sorry it's been so long guys. I planned to update a lot sooner but I had a bunch of family issues and a bunch of school stuff piled up on me. I hope it won't be so long next time. By the way, I got some comments that said that Hermione and Draco wouldn't act that way, but it just seems to me that since in the real books they hate each other, any story where they fall in love would be pretty different anyway. Again I'm sorry and as always please read and review.**

**CHAPTER 10**

A couple months passed with Hermione and Draco keeping their relationship a secret from everyone in the school. It was becoming increasingly hard for them to pretend not to care though. Hermione had gone to Neville the day after her and Draco started dating and explained that she wasn't interested in a relationship but that he would make one lucky girl very happy one day.

The Christmas Ball was coming up and Harry, Ginny, and Ron were helping with decorating. The decorating was made easier this time by the fact that the Ball was during break, so they didn't have to worry about classes, and no one was surprised that only third years and below had decided to go home. Hermione and Draco were naturally there, as they were Head Boy and Girl. Every once in a while, making sure it was secret, they would make eye contact and smile, winking before looking away. Ron was now trying to make up for what he'd said to her before, but Hermione wasn't having it.

"Hey Ron, you find a date to the Ball yet?" Harry asked from behind one of the huge Christmas Trees he, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were decorating.

"Not yet," Ron said gruffly.

"You better get on it or you won't be going with anyone," Ginny piped in.

"Hermione—" Ron started.

"No," she said before he could even ask. "I won't go with you Ron."

"Why not? What is wrong with you lately? I apologized for being an arse. I want to try to make it up to you Hermione. Why won't you go with me?" he demanded.

Hermione stopped what she was doing and sighed, "because I'm already going with someone Ronald. You can't expect me to stand around waiting for you. I did that all last year Ron! And you never once looked at me. And now, now that you've realized I liked you, you decide that hey, you want a relationship with me! I don't operate like that Ron. I lost interest a long time ago. And I'm not going to be here waiting for you to get your ass in gear. I've moved on, it's time you did too," she was being vicious and she knew it, but he needed to see reason.

"You're going with someone? Who? Neville again? Hermione why do you keep doing this? Can't you tell how I feel about you?" Ron demanded, taking Hermione's shoulders roughly and looking at her like she was supposed to understand through that gesture.

"No, I can't," she replied icily.

And then he began shaking her and three things happened simultaneously. Ron gave a shout, let go of her, and Draco showed up at her side, his wand out.

"What's the idea Malfoy?" Ron demanded, pulling out his own wand. With a flick, Draco had disarmed him.

"You were getting awfully rough with my girlfriend, and I don't appreciate it. She said she wasn't going with you. She said she didn't want you. Don't you know when to quit?"

Ron was gaping at him. "Girlfriend?" he demanded.

"Yes, Hermione and I are dating, and she will be going to the Ball with me. So you can just leave her alone, if you know what's good for you."

"Hermione, why didn't you tell us?" Ginny asked, looking surprised and only a little uneasy by this news.

"I knew it wouldn't go down well, I wanted us to get used to the idea of us before we let everyone know. Not to mention it was kind of sudden and we didn't want people wondering why the sudden change… I was going to tell you guys, I swear."

"You slept with him didn't you?" Ron demanded nastily.

"That is none of your business, whether it's true or not Ronald."

He opened his mouth to retort but Harry cut across him, "Hermione, are you happy with him?" he asked.

Hermione nodded, "very."

"Then we're happy for you, and we'll try to see in him what you do."

Hermione grinned, "I'm not sure that's possible for you guys but…we'll try it out. Oh and by the way Ron, unless you grow up and get over this thing you apparently have for me, you aren't welcome in my dorm again. You've insulted and hurt me too many times to be friends with you right now."

"Insulted and hurt you? Hermione! That person beside you has hurt and insulted you more than everyone else in this school put together!"

Hermione looked up at Draco, "that may be, but he's changed, which is more than I can say for you. Recently, you are the only person who's been hurting me Ron, and I can't stand it anymore. You're supposed to be my friend Ron, you're supposed to support me, not insult me. If you want to ruin our friendship because you can't buck up and be a man, then so be it, but if you want to continue being my friend, you'll get yourself in order. I think that's enough decorating for me for tonight, I'm going to bed."

And she turned without another word and went to the Head's dorm. She sat and waited for Draco on one of the couches. Less than half an hour later he walked in, straight to her, and kissed her deeply.

"Are you mad? That I told them about us?" he whispered, his forehead against hers, his knees on the floor between her legs.

She smiled, "no, I'm relieved. We don't have to hide it anymore. They would have found out at the Ball anyway, but this way…that ugly scene with Ron won't ruin that night. I wish it hadn't happened like that though."

"He was hurting you, I couldn't just stand by," Draco defended.

"No no, I didn't mean that, I meant the whole thing with Ron. I wish he was more mature, could handle things better, then maybe we'd still be friends."

"If he really cares about you, he'll grow up for you, and take his place as your friend again."

"Draco, have you…mentioned me to your mum?" she asked.

"Perhaps in passing…if you're asking if I told her we're dating, then no, I haven't told her. Should I have?" he asked.

"I don't know. I just wanted to know, if you had, what she thought of me…"

"Hermione, I wouldn't care if my mother thought you were the worst person in the world for me, it would not change how I feel about you. You are the world to me."

She smiled against his lips as he kissed her again. "How long do you think it'll take the school to hear about us?" she whispered.

"Just the Gryffindors? Or the whole school?" he asked.

"The whole school."

"Tomorrow before breakfast," he replied causing her to laugh.

That night as they lay together in his bed, he flush against her back, his arms around her waist, she rubbed his arm and said, "I love you."

"I love you too Hermione."

She fell asleep smiling and woke the same way. She rolled over to face him and saw him awake and watching her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry it's been so long guys. I've been really busy. I'd like to thank those of you who've reviewed, it means a lot. I would also like to remind everyone that this is a Hermione/Draco pairing, so pretty much everything that goes on is unrealistic according to the books. I know Draco does things he wouldn't "normally" do but this is my story and I'm not forcing anyone to read it. I don't mean to be rude about it but you have to understand that a story about two people who totally oppose each other in the books is going to be unrealistic unless the story is about them killing each other. Anyway, thanks for everything guys, keep reading, and if you're Twilight fans check out my other stories!**

**CHAPTER 11**

"Good morning," he whispered.

"It certainly is," she replied with a smile and a kiss. Draco let out a growl and rolled them over, still kissing her.

"Draco! Come on stop! We need to get out of bed and go eat. I feel like I haven't eaten in weeks," she said through her laughter.

He sighed and rolled off her, then helped her out of bed. "It's because of your newest extracurricular activity. It takes all your energy to do it right. Go get dressed; I'll be waiting in the common room."

Hermione came back from her room in jeans and a dark blue top, her hair swept into a ponytail at the top of her head. Draco grinned at her and she kissed him lightly on the lips before taking his hand. They walked together down the marble staircase and into the Great Hall. Upon their arrival the whole room went silent. It was so quiet that Hermione heard a spoon fall on the ground from across the hall. She just grinned at Draco, kissed him lightly, and walked to the Gryffindor table and sat down beside Harry. Ron was noticeably gone and glancing around, Hermione saw him down the table with Seamus and Lavender.

"You two have caused the biggest stir this school has seen in a long time," Harry teased.

Hermione smiled, "at least it isn't about something bad…"

"Hermione…I think to a lot of people, it _is_ bad. They don't understand how you could go from hating each other one day to dating each other the next…and I'm not sure I understand either."

"We…we started dating the day after the Halloween dance, but wanted to keep it a secret because we knew no one would understand. Harry, I love him. I don't know how it happened, I don't know why, but it did and I don't regret it."

"Then I'm happy for you. But, please be careful. I know you trust him, and I'll try to, but until then, be careful."

"I will. You're the best friend anyone could have Harry. Thank you."

He grinned at her and turned away as Ginny showed up and kissed him. Hermione set to eating; she really was famished, but looked up when she felt someone looking at her. Neville was sitting across from her.

"So…you and Malfoy are dating?" he asked casually.

"Yes," Hermione said, not sure what to say.

"Since when?"

"Um…the beginning of the month…"

"Oh…I thought you weren't ready for a relationship."

"Neville…I…I'm sorry, but…what happened between us…it wasn't supposed to. We went to the dance together, and you kissed me. Sure it was nice, but we aren't meant to be together." Hermione felt terrible for saying this.

"And you think you're meant to be with _Malfoy_? Hermione, that boy has tortured you for six years! He's never had one nice thing to say about you, _ever_. I don't understand what's going on with you two, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's worried about this." Neville had grown a backbone since the battle in the Ministry, maybe because he'd ended up killing Bellatrix…

"Neville, my love life is none of your business. If I'm hurt or I get my heart broken, it'll be my fault. It's none of your concern what I do or who I do it with, just like it's none of Ron's business either. I'm really sorry that I've hurt you, but…I can't settle for you when I know I can be happy with Draco…"

Neville looked like she'd slapped him, and in a moment he got up and walked away, not saying another word. Hermione felt like crying. If this thing hadn't happened with Draco she and Neville could have been very happy together. But now…she'd only managed to destroy his already injured pride.

"Hey Mione, you want to come down to the lake with us?" Ginny asked as she and Harry got ready to leave the table.

Hermione thought about it, she wanted to be with Draco, but that might not be possible, since he never really got along with her friends. "Could Draco come to?" she asked tentatively.

"Sure," Ginny said immediately, probably having already discussed it with Harry.

"Okay, I'll go ask him if he wants to come…" Hermione got up from the table, having no appetite anymore anyway. She felt the eyes of everyone on her as she made her way to the Slytherin table, where Draco was sitting with his friends.

He grinned at her and motioned to the empty space beside him. She'd never sat at any table but the Gryffindor one and felt uncomfortable intruding on Slytherin territory, but she sat anyway.

"Shall we cause a stir?" he whispered in her ear suggestively.

She gave him a mischievous grin and nodded before kissing him passionately right in front of the whole Great Hall and half the staff. An almost dead like silence followed this display before everyone started to buzz like bees. Draco and Hermione broke apart smiling. Glancing past Draco's head, Hermione knew she saw Dumbledore grin before turning to talk to Professor McGonagall.

"Harry and Ginny want to know if we want to go to the lake with them," Hermione said.

He arched an aristocratic brow, "Potter wants to spend some quality time with me?" he asked teasingly.

She laughed, "no, he wants to get to know you. He said he'd try to like you, for me, and what better opportunity than this one?"

"Alright, let's go." He got up and held out his hand for hers. She gladly took it and they started away from the table. They didn't get far when Pansy stopped them, looking very angry.

"How could you do this to me?" she demanded, glaring at Draco.

"Do what Pansy?" he asked, sounding bored.

"Go out with _her_?!" she almost shrieked.

"It shouldn't matter to you what I do remember? We decided as a couple to break up. You wanted to just as much as me, so you could go chase after Blaise. Now that he's turned you down four times you've decided that maybe I'm not such a bad guy after all. Well I'm not sorry to say that I'm taken Pansy and I plan to keep it that way."

She gaped at him like a fish before turning on Hermione, "you little slut! You stole the best thing in my life!" she actually did shriek this time, bringing everyone's attention to them yet again. Hermione didn't know how Harry could stand it all these years.

"Pansy, that's enough," Draco said coldly, putting a hand on the small of Hermione's back.

"No! You can't do this to me Draco!" she said angrily.

"You did this to yourself Pansy, now get out of our way," he said in that same cold voice, though there was profound boredom lacing his words. When she didn't move he sighed and put an arm around Hermione's waist to guide her around the plain looking Slytherin.


	12. Chapter 12

**Ok guys I am sooo, sooo sorry about not updating in like more than a month. I've been really busy at home and started school again and am trying to write my book and I kind of just let this slip away from me. on that note, there was something about this chapter that I remember thinking was off, but now I can't think of what it was. So if you notice something wrong with it let me know and maybe it will jog my memory. With that said, I hope you enjoy, remember it's just a fic about two unlikely people in a relationship, and please, please, please review and make my day.**

**CHAPTER 12 **

Harry and Ginny were waiting for them by the doors.

"You two sure know how to get the attention of a room don't you?" Harry asked.

Draco grinned back, "we just figured it was time you went backstage and let someone else sing for a change."

Harry returned his grin and led the way outside. It was one of those rare nice, almost hot, days in December, one of their last chances to get outside before they were snowed in until March. Almost the whole student body was outside today and Harry led them to a nicely isolated stretch of beach and sat down after doing a spell to heat the ground so their asses didn't freeze. Ginny sank down in front of him to rest her back against his legs. Draco and Hermione sat down next to each other and Draco pulled her closer to him, keeping his arm around her shoulders.

They sat in silence for quite a while, just watching the lake. Suddenly they heard voices nearby and looked around. Ron was walking toward them with Seamus, Lavender, Dean, Pavarti, and Luna, who was walking next to Ron, whose arm was around her neck.

"Well look what we have here, the Queen of Sluts and the King of Snakes, what a _perfect_ couple!" Ron said nastily. The group around him laughed, except for Luna, but Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Draco just looked at him in boredom. When his joke failed to get a response of any kind from the ones he was insulting, Ron flushed.

"Hey Harry, you wanna go play some Quidditch? Dean and Seamus against you and me?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm good here thanks," Harry said coolly.

Ron looked like he'd been confunded. "You, you don't want to play quidditch with us?" he asked in disbelief.

"No, not really. See, you're acting like a child Ron. And while you're still my best mate, so is Hermione, and you're being really terrible to her. I can't be stuck between you guys again like last year, so I'm choosing the side that I know is in the right here. Ron…can't you see that you're wrong?"

"Harry, _she's_ wrong, for dating that snake!" Ron exclaimed. "Everyone's saying it! They can't understand what's going on. They think she's been imperioused or something! She's wrong! We were supposed to be together, we were supposed to be the couple that made it!" Ron said, almost whining.

"Ron, mate, how could you be the couple that made it if you didn't even realize she liked you last year? How could you be the couple that made it if you're always fighting with her? And more recently, calling her terrible names? I'm sorry Ron but I don't think even you believe that. I think you're just mad because instead of turning back to you like you thought she would, she's found someone else she can be happy with. Someone who clearly values everything about her."

Hermione had never heard Harry disagree so thoroughly with Ron, and never for her instead of the tall red haired Weasley.

"Fine Harry, if you want to end our friendship over this, then let's do it. If you're going to choose her over me I don't know if I want to be your friend anyway." With that he walked away. And in that moment it seemed that the "Golden Trio" was officially broken.

"Harry you didn't have to do that," Hermione said quietly.

"Yes I did Hermione. Just because Ron was my best friend doesn't mean I can stand there and let him act like that toward you. He has to realize sometime that his words and actions have consequences that he probably won't like."

"But Harry…your best friend…" Hermione protested.

Harry shrugged it off.

"So Hermione what are you wearing to the ball on Saturday?" Ginny asked, tactfully changing the subject.

Hermione grinned, "Wouldn't you like to know?" she replied. "That's a surprise, one that no one will see before that night. What are you wearing?"

"Well, since it's like a real ball and we have to wear ball gowns I found a really pretty gold dress with beads all over it and gathered skirts. It's really pretty, and I think Harry will look great in black and gold… oh, speaking of which, if no one gets to see your dress how will Draco know to dress to match?" she asked.

Hermione grinned, "that's my little secret as well. Draco doesn't get to see what _he's_ wearing until that night either…. I happen to know his measurements…"

"You're a cruel woman Hermione Granger," Ginny pouted. Hermione just grinned at her.

They stayed out for a few more hours, until suddenly the wind started to pick up and it started to snow. As they ran back toward the school, Hermione tripped on the stairs and almost did a face plant into the stone, but Draco caught her before she could land. She smiled up at him, "thanks," she said, rewarding him with a kiss.

"Oh look, the Gryffindor Princess and her snake!" Pansy said nastily as she and several of her friends walked by.

"Look there goes the Slytherin Sluts and their leader Pansy the Prude!" Ginny retorted just as nastily. This shut the girls up and several of them stared at her with their mouths open, as if shocked that she would say this to them.

Not far behind the girls came some of the Slytherin guys, including Blaise Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"Blaise! You won't believe what Weasley just called us!" Pansy said, turning to the good looking boy.

"I'm sure you're going to tell me," he said sounding bored.

"She called them Sluts and she called me a Prude!" Pansy exclaimed.

Blaise stared at her for a minute before shrugging, "she's only telling the truth."

Pansy sucked in an insulted breath as the Gryffindors and Draco stared at him.

"Save it Pansy, I don't care what you're going to say. The plain truth is I've been Draco's friend a lot longer than I've been yours. And if he wants to date a muggle-born Gryffindor then I'm going to support him. And you can't be mad at someone for telling you the plain truth Pansy. You guys really _are_ the Slytherin Sluts, everyone in the school agrees. Except, the Prude part is right for you, as far as I know you're still a virgin, which is kind of ironic, since you're the leader of all these girls who sleep with anything with legs."

Pansy's mouth was wide open, and she wasn't the only one. Ginny herself was gaping at him in surprise.

"Now why don't you girls just go away and stop trying to make everyone's lives a living hell?" Blaise asked almost conversationally. The Slytherin girls quickly went on their way and Blaise turned to them, grinning. "That was fun; I've been wanting to say that for ages!"

When no one spoke he asked, "what?"

"Well, I wasn't aware that you were particularly happy about me and Hermione, and I never dreamed you'd side with me against the rest of Slytherin…" Draco said for all of them, because he knew that's what they were thinking.

Blaise shrugged, "you know Draco, those girls are the only ones who have a problem with you two… everyone else…they're all for you. It seems odd, but we've all been wanting some diversity for a while, but were too chicken to make a move, so we're glad you did…"

Draco grinned, "well I'm glad for that anyway. Who you going to the Ball with?" he asked.

"Um, well, I don't know now, I was going to go alone, but after the wonderful example you've shown us, I think I'll invite someone from a different house. After all, not many can resist my good looks…" he sounded extremely arrogant, but they could tell he was joking from his grin. "I was thinking maybe one of the Patil's, or maybe Susan Bones…"

"Well good luck with them, but I know for a fact that Pavarti is going with Seamus Finnigan, but her sister may be available. And last I heard Susan and Justin Finch-Fletchly had broken up for good… you might have a chance there…" Hermione offered.


	13. Chapter 13

**Yay! It hasn't been a month since I updated! It's only been about a week and a half I think. Anyway I'm not sure exactly where this story is going, although next chapter will have a big surprise! But I will promise that I won't stop writing it until I've finished. All my stories are like that, I just kind of write what's in my head at the time and the story goes from there. Anyway, please enjoy, review, alert, whatever!**

**CHAPTER 13**

Blaise raised an eyebrow at her, causing her to blush, "it's always good to keep up on the latest couples…gives you leverage in some circumstances…"

Draco laughed, wrapped an arm around her, and led the way inside. None of them were too surprised that Blaise followed them in. Harry was still shocked that his friend falling for his enemy could bring them and some of the other Slytherins closer together.

They were all heading up the marble staircase, on the way to Hermione and Draco's dorm, when Ron and the other Gryffindor seventh years walked past, Ron still glowering at them.

"Hey Harry, you realize Weasley just gave you the death glare right?" Blaise asked, having not been around when Ron had ended their friendship.

"Uh, yeah, I know that. We…Ron decided that he didn't like me defending Hermione's new relationship, so he ended our friendship…apparently he's still mad about something…" Harry replied uncomfortably with a shrug.

"Wait wait wait! The Golden Trio is broken? No More? Finite?" Blaise asked, stopping.

Harry turned back when he realized the Slytherin wasn't walking with them, "yeah, he decided that his petty grudges were more important than his friends… Can we not talk about this?" he asked abruptly.

Blaise shrugged and started walking again, and once inside the dorm, he flopped down onto one of the chairs and stretched out. "This is pretty nice Draco, I can see why you've never let any of us up here before," he said, looking around.

Draco grinned as he and Hermione sank down onto one of the couches. "You know, now that you've seen it, you really should go and find Susan, or she'll be taken before tomorrow night…"

"Oh, right. Well…Hey Harry, you wanna come with me, to…you know…introduce us or whatever? I just think that if I show up alone they'll all think I'm up to something…"

Harry grinned at this sign of weakness, "sure, come on Gin, you might as well come too." He got up and tugged Ginny after him.

"What and leave these two alone?" she asked, indicating Hermione and Draco.

"I don't think they'll kill each other while we're gone," Harry said with a grin and a wink before leading the other two out.

Finally alone together, Hermione and Draco proceeded immediately to his room. They concluded that they had at least an hour to be alone, since it would take a while to find Susan and then even longer to convince her to go with the Slytherin boy. Hermione sat down on Draco's bed and gestured for him to come forward. He grinned and went to stand between her legs. She didn't hesitate to push his shirt up as far as she could, pulling it off over his head and throwing it into a corner. Looking into his eyes, she slowly ran her hands down his chest, over his six pack, and to his belt buckle.

Her eyes left his briefly to inspect his member before she looked back into his eyes as she engulfed him with her mouth. His breath hissed from his mouth at the sensation. This was something she'd never done to him before, and while he wasn't complaining about their lack of oral sex it was a huge turn on. after what seemed like only seconds Draco pulled her up.

"As incredibly enjoyable as that was I think we need to put it on hold until later. We have a limited time frame and I'd like to get to more important matters, the first of which is getting you out of these clothes," Draco said huskily before ripping her clothes from her body.

She giggled as he lifted her up, wrapping her legs around his waist as he carried her to the bed. He settled them both in the middle of the bed and looked down at her, still shocked by how beautiful she was and how lucky he was for having her in his life. Then, without hesitation he kissed her, sliding his tongue in her mouth at the same time as he slid into her to the hilt. She gasped against his lips and tightened her legs around his waist as he pulled back. He started thrusting slowly but as their mutually growing need dictated, he sped up, thrusting harder and harder. Her hands and trailed down from his hair to his shoulder blades and at her moment of climax her fingernails dug deep into his shoulders, causing him to hiss as the pain met with his pleasure and fueled him on. a few more thrusts saw his climax and he fell on top of Hermione, both of them thoroughly exhausted.

After a few minutes he pulled out of her, kissed her one more time and got up. Getting his wand, he cleaned them both off and started getting dressed again. Hermione heaved a sigh and got out of the bed, using her own wand to repair the clothes that Draco had ripped from her.

They were on their way down to dinner, hands entwined and satisfied smiles on their faces when they met up with Harry, Ginny, and Blaise. Once in the Great Hall, Draco and Hermione shared a kiss, which was becoming commonplace between the two, before separating to their separate tables.

"So Blaise, what did Susan say?" Draco asked nonchalantly after he and Hermione parted ways and he sat down with his fellow Slytherin.

"Oh, I almost forgot about that!" he said with a chuckle, "what do you think she said? Just because you know you're the hottest guy in school doesn't mean I'm not a close second! Of course she said yes!" he said with an evil grin.

"Well congrats man! We were worried you'd be turned down by everyone and have to go with Millicent," Draco teased.

Blaise scoffed, "I'd rather go alone and naked than with her."

Draco laughed, glad that the girls had refused to sit near them so the very ugly girl in question would not hear.

"Hermione tell you what she's wearing tomorrow?" Blaise asked.

"Nope, and I'm a little glad, it's boring when there's no mystery, it'd be like being with Pansy again," he said with a laugh.

"I'm so glad I didn't let myself get roped into that one!" Blaise said happily. "So you and Hermione…been dating a while…live all alone in your dorm, with each other…" he trailed off, clearly thinking Draco would get where he was going.

And Draco did know what he was saying, but only said, "are you going to finish what you're thinking or let me try to decipher it?"

"Well I'm just wondering…are you guys going to wait until you're out of school before you do it? Or is it gunna be tomorrow? Or after the next dance?"

Draco looked down at his food, contemplating whether he should tell his best friend the truth, wondering what Hermione would want him to do.

"Um…well…" he kind of stuttered.

"No way!" Blaise gasped, "already? _Hermione_?" he asked.

"Blaise, if I tell you this you can't tell _anyone_. Do you understand me? If you tell I will personally find a way to make sure you don't find your way out of say…the Forbidden Forest."

"Whoa man, it you don't want to tell me you don't have to," Blaise said, surprised by how serious his friend was.

"No, I need to tell someone, but…I don't know if Hermione wants people to know…but…yeah we've done it."

"When? It's only been a few months, and you never even hinted…"

"It wasn't exactly something either of us wanted broadcasted through the school. It's easier to keep things like that a secret when you live only with each other too. It….it happened the day of the Halloween Dance. She…well to my embarrassment she was disguised as Pansy and it just happened…. And then I found out the next day that the girl I had just had unbelievable sex with was the last person I ever expected. We've been…together since then, definitely in more ways than one."

Blaise had listened in enraptured silence and let out a long whistle when he finished the story. "And you all of a sudden decided to tell the whole world you're dating?"

Draco frowned a little as he tried to find a way to make his words come out the way he wanted them to. "Actually I'm not sure we would have let anyone know even now. It just kind of happened. Weasley was harassing her. He decided to let her know that he likes her, like no one knew about that. Anyway, he was getting a little rough with her while we were decorating for the Christmas Dance, and being the protective and possessive boyfriend, I felt inclined to do something about it."

"You know, I'm getting to hate that creep even more every day. I'm still shocked that Harry broke off their friendship for Hermione, every other time I've heard they were fighting he stuck with Weasley…."

"I was surprised too, though I am more than happy that she got to keep her friends. That was one of my biggest worries, that all of her friends would desert her when they found out she was dating their 'enemy'."

"Well I don't exactly know what that feels like, but I have a feeling that I'll know in about three days depending on how the Hufflepuffs react to me and Susan going to the dance together."

"Maybe, though I think we've been the first of many interhouse couples and I'll bet you won't be the only other couple there who are from different houses."

"Man I can't wait to see what Hermione shows up wearing!" Blaise teased as Draco glared at him.

"That is totally none of your concern and I'd like it if you'd keep thoughts of my girlfriend out of your demented mind. I'm sure it will be something utterly appropriate," he said with an exaggerated sigh.

"I'd hope so, because a girl like her, you want to be the only person to see more of her than is absolutely necessary. I'm sure it will be something amazing though, just look at what she wore to the last one, and she wasn't even dating the hottest male to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts."

The day of the dance dawned clear and sunny, but for Hermione, this might possibly have been the worst day of her life.

**OMG! What do you think happened? Why's Hermione so upset? Review and let me know what you think!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I am sooo sooo sorry that it's been so long. I have a lot of stuff going on for school and work and I didn't have a lot of time to update. This chapter is longer than usual because I couldn't find a good place to stop. Please review and don't have me because I was late in getting the chapter up!**

CHAPTER 14

What was she thinking? How would Draco react? Could she even tell Draco? A million thoughts and feelings coursed through Hermione's body as she sank down onto her bed. This had been going on for a few days, but she'd thought nothing of it, these things happened sometimes.

A knock on her door snapped her out of her own mind. "Yes?" she asked, trying and succeeding in sounding as normal as possible.

"Are you ready to go down to breakfast?" Draco asked, opening the door and seeing her sitting on the bed in her nightwear still. With a grin he said, "apparently not. Are you okay?" he asked, taking in her paler face.

She nodded, "yes, I'm just…I think I might be coming down with the flu or something. I'll get ready for breakfast, just a moment," she said as she got up, grabbed some casual clothes and headed to the bathroom. Once there she leaned back against the door and closed her eyes.

Five minutes later she came back out in jeans, a nice maroon top, and her hair up in a pony tail. She'd applied cover up, to hopefully add enough color to her face that Harry and Ginny wouldn't ask her questions too.

"Ready?" Draco asked. Hermione nodded and they walked down to breakfast holding hands.

Harry and Ginny were already there, whispering and laughing. They looked up when Hermione sat down across from them. "Are you excited Mione?" Ginny asked.

"Definitely, getting to dress up and look pretty and have a handsome guy fawn all over me. I live for these events," Hermione teased, "but really, I am looking forward to it. And you?"

"Oh yes! It's going to be so much fun!"

Hermione smiled. "Well I'm glad I won't have to deal with you all day if you're going to be so happy."

"What makes you think you don't have to deal with me? I asked Draco yesterday, he said it was fine if Harry and I came and hung out in your dorm today. So ha!" she replied.

Hermione gave a dramatic sigh but smiled at the younger girl. She looked down at her half eaten plate of food and felt like she was going to be sick. "Well, I have an essay to finish up so I'm going to go do that now, but when you're done eating come on up, I should be done with it by then," she said, getting to her feet.

None of them noticed the eyes following her, the blue ones a few benches down, and the brown ones from a whole different table. Almost at the same time the two people stood up and left the hall as well.

"Hey!" the first one yelled at Hermione's retreating back. With an audible sigh Hermione turned to look at Pansy Parkinson.

"What do you want?" Hermione said with a bored expression.

"You've ruined my life! You've stolen my boyfriend and told everyone that I'm a prude! You think you're going to get away with that?" she demanded, stepping closer.

"For one thing, I did not steal your boyfriend, you were already broken up. For another, Ginny was the one who said you were a prude. But you know what, none of that matters because you're life is far from ruined. You're healthy, you have money, you're getting okay grades, you aren't known as the school slut, you have no articles full of lies written about you, you're not pregnant….you're life is _far_ from ruined." Hermione fought to keep herself from flinching as she realized that she'd said that last part out loud.

"I don't care what you say! Draco and I were going to get married! We were going to be the most known couple in all of England! And you've ruined it all!" she almost shrieked.

Hermione closed her eyes and tried to calm down. "Pansy if you don't clear off right now I will put you in detention for harassing a Head Girl. None of your accusations are correct and as such you should not be acting this way. Get out of my sight right now!"

Pansy gasped at her as if she hadn't expected this coming. "How dare you presume to order me about!"

"What's going on here?" came another voice. Hermione closed her eyes again and clenched her hands together. When she opened them Ron was standing in front of her, next to Pansy.

"This does not concern you Mr. Weasley, so you can just go back to whatever you were doing," Hermione replied.

"It might not concern me, but it sure as bloody hell is interesting. What's going on?"

"This….this _mudblood_ has ruined my life! Stolen my boyfriend! And has the audacity to order me out of her sight!" Pansy said loudly.

"Oh my gosh! You know a word that big? _And_ what it means?" Hermione mocked, rolling her eyes. "Give me a break, you don't give a damn about me 'stealing' Draco from you. You just saw another opportunity to try and make my life more difficult. It won't work. I'm not kidding here Parkinson, get out of here before something happens that you don't want!"

"Did you hear her threaten me!?" Pansy demanded of Ron, who to Hermione's confusion was still standing there.

He nodded, "yeah, what is the school coming to when our own precious Head Girl and Know-It-All Granger can threaten students and not get in trouble? Perhaps the headmaster would like to hear about this…"

Hermione glared at him like she never had in all their years of friendship. "What is wrong with you?!" she exclaimed. "Why are you being like this?"

"Don't you realize that Malfoy is just using you? I don't know what he plans to gain from using you like this, but that's what he's doing! And you're just walking right into it Hermione! He doesn't care about you! You were always supposed to end up with me! Everyone knew it, everyone expected it!"

"Everyone? Even you Ron? If you knew that we were supposed to be together then why did you torture me like you did? Why were you always such an inconsiderate prick? Why did you go off and date Lavender when you say you knew we were meant for each other? I'll tell you why, because you didn't give a damn! You figured you would have some fun and then when you got tired of Lavender you could just come back and everything would be how it was before! Well I have news for you! Nothing is the same Ron! We aren't the same people, we don't want the same things! Why can't you just except that and leave me alone to live my life?"

Ron just opened and closed his mouth a few times like a goldfish but didn't reply. Pansy was watching the exchange with interest and an oddly calculating look.

"Now if you two don't mind, I'm going to my room before this useless conversation goes any farther. Perhaps we will see each other at the dance tonight," Hermione said with a falsely pleasant voice.

She walked up to her dorm alone and in silence, but instead of sitting down and doing her essay, she went into her room and curled up under the blankets. What was she thinking? How could she let this happen? And while she was in school still no less? Her thoughts of her predicament blocked out everything else, the fact that her boyfriend and best friends were coming up any minute, the dance tonight, everything except her current problem.

"Hermione?" Draco asked softly, coming into the darkened room slowly. "Hermione are you alright? You've been acting strange all morning."

Hermione sat up slowly, "yeah I'm fine Draco. I just….I've been feeling kind of tired so I took a nap to see if it would help. And it did, I'm feeling much better now."

Draco still looked suspicious but didn't say anything as he and Hermione walked down into the main common room to find Harry and Ginny sitting on the couch together.

"What took you guys so long?" Ginny asked with a smirk.

"I was sleeping, is that a crime nowadays?" Hermione asked back playfully. She had decided not to let her problem ruin the night. They'd been planning this for weeks now and they all deserved to have a good time.

They spent a few hours talking and hanging out before Ginny dragged Hermione back up to her room to start getting ready. By the time they were done Ginny was ready in a deep purple dress that somehow accented her hair instead of clashing with it. It was another slightly formfitting dress, but by the time it reached her knees it flared out and trailed on the floor behind her. She had pulled her hair up in a French twist and had a little tiara on top.

Hermione was now slightly dreading her choice of dress. It reminded her of her Yule Ball dress a little. It was a kind of pink ivory color with beading at the very top of the strapless bodice. The fabric on the bodice overlapped each other and then moved down to the waist where it kind of opened up into several layers of ruffles with a bow. She wasn't happy with the bow but Ginny told her that it added character to the dress. Sure it was very elegant and if she was honest it looked amazing on her, but for some reason she didn't feel like she had the right to wear such an amazing dress. For her hair she pulled the top few layers up and curled it all with nice big elegant curls instead of the craziness that it usually was. Looking in the mirror, she knew she was gorgeous, as was Ginny, who was standing beside her with her arm wrapped around Hermione's waist.

(AN: for a picture of Hermione's dress see my profile. Sorry I don't have a picture of Ginny's I just kind of made hers up. But I figured Hermione should have something special, so I looked for one for her : ) )

"Come on Mione or the dance will be over by the time we get down there!" Ginny said, pulling her after her down the stairs to the common room where the boys were waiting.

Hermione had had Draco's outfit made for him, since she wanted it all to be a surprise. But she'd had no idea it would look so amazing on him. It was a white tux with a white vest underneath and a tie that had been handmade to match her dress. She had never seen him where white before, but had to admit him in white gave him in black a run for his money. Harry was standing beside him in a black tux with a purple tie and vest looking as good as he always did.

"Hermione, you look amazing," Draco said, taking her in his arms and kissing her cheek.

"Thank you, you don't look to bad yourself," she replied with a smile.

"Indeed, Draco you look hot," Ginny piped up from where she and Harry were waiting for them. "Hermione really knows how to dress you huh?"

Draco grinned, "yeah I was a little worried at first, because I don't do white, but I was surprised by how good it looked on me. Thank you by the way."

"It was nothing, I just wanted our first real social event to be well coordinated and have us match."

"Oh I see, it had nothing to do with me after all," he teased as they walked down to the Great Hall.

Even with Ginny claiming we would be late, they were still some of the first ones there, and Hermione couldn't help but notice that everyone was staring at them.

The dance itself went amazingly well and Ron and Pansy never once confronted them. Draco and Hermione spent all but one dance together, when they switched partners with Harry and Ginny. More than once they became the center of attention as they showed off their expertise in the art of specialized dancing. Hermione got a lot of compliments on her dress and even though they had a very good time, she couldn't help the nagging thoughts that kept creeping into her mind. She knew that she would have to tell Draco about her problem soon.

That night she and Draco laid in his bed together, wrapped in each other's arms.

"I love you Hermione," Draco said, stroking her arm.

"I love you too," she replied, her heart filling with dread at what she had to tell him.

**Ok so I know, the dance itself didn't get a lot of time in the story, but I figured it'd been so long since I updated you guys wouldn't really mind the fact that it didn't get a lot of playing time so to speak. Please leave some feedback. Where do you want the story to go? What do you think should happen with Ron? Thanks……REVIEW : )**


	15. Chapter 15

**Yeah, it's been a while but I got it out! YAY! Here's the big secret revealed! I'm not sure if I like the build up to the actual revelation but that part and the end I liked. So just think of the beginning of the chapter as a means to an end. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 15**

Hermione was woken the next morning by the uncontrollable urge to throw up. Throwing the blankets off of herself, she jumped from the bed, narrowly missing kicking Draco, and ran to the bathroom.

After a moment she felt Draco crouch beside her, holding her hair away from her face and rubbing comforting circles on her back.

"Hermione, I think you should go to see Madame Pomfrey," Draco said softly.

Hermione wiped her mouth and looked at him before shaking her head, settling back on her knees for a moment. "It's just the flu Draco. If it doesn't stop in a few days I'll go okay?"

"Alright, but I don't want you stressing yourself if you're sick. It's almost Christmas so you aren't allowed to work on any school work until at least afterward. Just take it easy for a few days."

"Ok, but I need to run to the library and see if what I have is what I think it is. Just a little research so that I can figure out if there's anything I can do to help it." She stood up on shaky legs.

"Are you sure?" Draco asked. When she nodded he heaved a sigh and stood too. "Well let's get dressed and we'll go."

"Draco, go back to sleep. We had a long night last night and I know you're tired. I'll be fine on my own. Besides, you'll just distract me, and the sooner I get it done the sooner I'll be back here with you." She led him back to the bed, pushed him down, straddled his lap, and kissed him soundly.

"Keep that up and I'm not letting you leave," he groaned to her.

She giggled, kissed him again, and got off the bed. "I'll be back as soon as possible. You go back to sleep and be ready for me when I get back."

He smiled at her as she left the room before rolling over and pulling the covers back over himself.

The trip to the library was uneventful and the library empty, as she'd known it would be. After half an hour of searching she finally found what she was looking for. She quickly wrote the incantation down and left the library. Once in the corridor, she was unsure where to go. Finally she decided on a deserted corridor that led to an equally deserted room. She locked the door and took out the parchment with the incantation, took a deep breath, and said the dreaded words.

Draco work up with a smile and stretched. The smile faded when he noticed that Hermione wasn't in the bed next to him. He pushed the blankets back and got out of bed, pulling on a t-shirt and sweatpants before going down to the common room. His eyes went to the clock over the fireplace when he realized Hermione wasn't there either. A quick sweep of the bathroom and her room told him she wasn't in their rooms at all.

With increasing worry Draco made his way to the library. He knew it had been around six when Hermione had gotten up and it was almost ten now. She would have been back by now unless something was wrong. Thoroughly searching the library told him she wasn't there either. The Great Hall was the only other place he could look, so that's where he went.

Harry and Ginny were sitting at the Gryffindor table together, laughing, talking and flirting like any normal teenage couple, but Draco didn't see Hermione with them like she normally would be.

"Hey guys, you haven't seen Hermione this morning have you?" he asked, walking over to them.

Harry looked up in surprise. "No, we didn't see either of you so assumed you were still in your room. Did you check the library? Maybe she's getting a head start on homework."

"Yeah, I knew she was going to the library, but she told me she would be back by now. And she's not in any of our rooms."

Ginny looked at Harry and Draco could tell they were having a silent conversation. "Draco, we'll meet you in your common room, we have to grab something," Harry said, getting to his feet quickly and leading Ginny from the Hall.

Fifteen minutes later Harry and Ginny came through the Gryffindor shortcut. "She's in an old classroom on the eighth floor, down the deserted corridor," Harry said.

Draco stared at him for a moment wondering how he could know that before taking off at a run. A trip that normally would have taken twenty minutes took ten because he was running so fast. Once he made it to the room he threw the door open. It took his eyes a few minutes to adjust and a few more seconds to locate Hermione sitting in the dusty, dirty corner, her knees drawn up and her face buried in her hands.

"Hermione!" He said loudly, running to her. "Hermione what's wrong? Are you hurt?"

She lifted her head and he could see the tear stains glittering on her face. "No, I'm not hurt Draco. There's…..I have to tell you something. And when I do….promise me that whatever you do or say will be because you want to, not because it's what you think _I_ want you to do."

"Hermione, you're really starting to worry me. And you shouldn't be sitting in this cold dirty room if you're sick."

"I'm not sick, not like you think. Just promise me Draco, promise that if you get mad you'll tell me, we'll work it out."

Draco stared at her, confused beyond anything he'd ever experience before. "I promise Hermione. Now tell me what's going on."

She looked into his eyes, biting her lip and fighting back more tears before whispering, "I'm pregnant."

At these words Draco's breath left him in a whoosh and he lost his balance from his crouched position, falling to the ground in shock. A gasp at the door announced Harry and Ginny's inopportune arrive.

"Her-Hermione are you sure? But how….?" Draco said weakly.

"We've been sexually active Draco, and we never used protection. I just didn't think about it at the time. That's why I've been throwing up, morning sickness. I found a pregnancy test spell in the library and I've checked already. It…the book said this spell is never wrong…."

"Wow….this is….wow," Draco said, his communications skills having been frozen at her previous words.

Harry and Ginny had finally made their way over to them. "Hermione! You're pregnant? You're going to have a baby! That's so exciting!" Ginny exclaimed with a huge smile, nudging Harry, who seemed almost as shocked as Draco.

Hermione, Draco, and Harry stared at her for a minute before Hermione replied softly, "it's not exciting Ginny. It's a disaster. I'm not ready to be a parent, and I don't think Draco is either. We're still in school! I don't even know how to be a parent!"

Ginny stood there with her hands on her hips and a look too reminiscent of Mrs. Weasley for Hermione's liking took over her countenance. "After all we've been through, ALL new life is exciting regardless of how unprepared you are. My parents weren't much older than you when they had Bill, and that went just fine."

Hermione was silent for a moment and then stood up with an oddly harsh look on her face. "I can understand why you would say that Ginny. But the fact of the matter is that this isn't about your parents. This isn't something that happened to you, it's happened to me! And Draco! Of course new life is exciting, but not for me, not when I'm still in school! Before I've even been allowed to get my life in order!"

Ginny gaped at her, "so you think that because you didn't get to 'live your life' you're child shouldn't be allowed to? So you're pregnant! So what! You've made your bed! Now sleep in it! You should have thought about the consequences before! Now that you're pregnant, regardless of everything else, you owe it to the baby to be a good parent! Both of you!"

"Don't you dictate to me what I have to do Ginevra Weasley!" Hermione snapped. "You have no idea how I'm feeling right now, what I'm thinking. This is mine and Draco's business and we'll decide what to do on our own."

"What to do?" Ginny repeated. "You don't mean that! You wouldn't kill the baby like that!" she exclaimed.

Hermione and Draco stared at her for a minute. And finally Hermione's tears beat her and flowed down her cheeks. "I, I don't know," she said through the tears. "I….we haven't talked about it and there's so much to think about."

Draco opened and closed his mouth twice, as if he couldn't think of anything to say. Finally he stood up and said, "We will discuss this later, alone," he said looking at Ginny. "But right now you need to get warm, have some food, and get some rest. Come on Hermione."

"I….um….I'll run to the kitchen and get her some food," Harry offered. Draco nodded his thanks as he wrapped an arm around Hermione's waist. Ginny huffed, crossed her arms and left the room. Draco shook his head and led Hermione back to their rooms and to the couch, helping her lay down and covering her with a blanket.

A while later Harry knocked on the portrait door and Draco let him in. he was carrying a whole tray of different things. Focusing on the tray so as not to drop anything, he set it down on the table and stood back, rubbing his hands together for lack of anything else to do.

"Well, I suppose I should leave you to it. Hermione….just so you know, in case you care, I'll agree with whatever you do. It's your life and you should get to live it how you want. But….honestly, I think the idea of you as a mom is bloody brilliant," he said with a smile.

Hermione couldn't hold back a small smile of her own, "thanks Harry."

He nodded before leaving them alone. Draco pulled the tray closer for Hermione to reach and sat down beside her with a sigh.

**Ok so I didn't really get into what Hermione and Draco are going to do. I think I know what they're going to choose, but what do you want to happen? I think I've said this for one of my other stories maybe, but I really do just make up most of my story as I'm writing it. I don't have an outline or any real plans until I actually write it down. IF I have them keep the baby I'll already have a few names picked out but that's about as much planning as it goes. Enjoy, let me know what you think! Next chapter will most likely be their big decision, and maybe a little Mrs. Malfoy and the Weasleys…**


	16. Chapter 16

**Wow, this chapter is REALLY long. I'm not sure how long the rest of the chapters will be, but this one is long because there wasn't a place to stop that didn't ruin the whole effect. Plan on shorter chapters, but maybe I'll get on a role and they'll all start being really long like this. Warning: lots of drama ahead, I was pretty happy with this chapter.**

**CHAPTER 16**

Hermione refused to look at Draco as she moved forward to get food from the tray. Draco watched her and waited until she'd been eating for a few minutes before speaking. "Are we going to talk about this?" he asked.

"Draco….I just….I don't know what to do. I can't think right now."

"Don't you even want to know my opinion?" he asked, sounding hurt.

She finally looked at him, drawing her legs up next to her on the couch. "Draco, how can….how can you already know what you want to do? You just found out."

Draco clasped his hands in front of him, his arms resting on his knees. "Hermione, I know what I want to do because it's a simple thing for me. It's a simple decision. I never….I never thought this would happen, even when I was older and out of school. It wasn't going to happen, because I wasn't going to let it."

"What are you talking about? You….you don't want children?"

He didn't reply, just sat there. Finally he leaned back and looked at her. "Tell me, what were you expecting me to say or do? When you made me promise to only do what I wanted?"

"I, well I was expecting you to get mad or rant or rave or blame me for getting pregnant. Or I, I thought you would leave me, tell me that we were over and whatever I decided would be my problem to deal with. But you….you haven't done anything. Draco, I….I agree with Ginny, about life being exciting, precious. We've seen so much death, I don't want to add to it. We made a decision to love each other, now we have to face the consequences. I only just found out, but I've already figured that the baby will be born, at the soonest in late June to early July. We'll be out of school by then."

"You want to keep it," Draco said simply, with no emotion in his voice at all.

"It doesn't matter how unprepared I am for it, this is my child we're talking about, mine and yours. I can't just….I can't let it die because I'm not ready for the responsibility. Now the only thing I don't know is if you're going to leave me or not." She was looking at him pointedly, obviously wanting an answer there and then.

"Hermione, it's a big decision, I need time to think."

He could see Hermione's throat contract around her tears and her eyes begin to glisten. She nodded and got to her feet, starting for her bedroom.

"That's it? You're just going to walk away?" he demanded.

She turned around, tears in her eyes, "no Draco, I'm not going to walk away, _you_ are. When people say they need time to think they really mean they give up but don't have the guts to tell people the truth. I just….I hoped that you would make the decision to raise our child with me."

"I'm not running Hermione! I need time! This is huge! I never even thought this could happen to me! Women think about these kinds of things, men, and particularly me, never think about it!"

"Well it's happened now! You need to be thinking about it!"

"Fine! I don't want the baby!" he yelled, getting to his feet in a rush.

Hermione gasped and actually fell back against the wall, an arm around her waist, shock written on her face. "You, you don't want the baby?"

"No," he replied, glaring at her.

"But, I thought….Draco, I know it's new to you, but we can work around it."

"You don't understand anything Hermione. You don't know. I shouldn't be allowed to have children! I should be in Azkaban, or dead. I shouldn't be here at Hogwarts, happy with you. I've done so many things I'm not proud of, so many things that should have earned me life in prison. Why should I get to be happy with you, have a family, when there are so many people that can't anymore? I helped Voldemort Hermione, I helped him cause all that pain, all those people who can't have what I can. What makes me better, good enough to have what I deprived them of? You have no idea what it's like to see so many people here whose mother or father or brother was killed in the war, and I'm partly to blame for that! You were right in thinking that I would leave you, but it's not because I blame you. This, the baby, has shown me that I can't have you anymore. It's been bothering me for a while now, but I've ignored it because of you. I'm sorry Hermione, but I can't be with you anymore, I can't love you, or help you raise the baby. I deprived others those rights, and so I deprive myself of them too, as my eternal punishment for the wrong I have done. I am so sorry," he said before going to the portrait and leaving, slamming it behind him.

Hermione stared at the door for a moment before sliding down the wall and crumbling into a ball, sobs wracking her body. Not only had Draco just broken up with her, but she was pregnant with his child and he wanted nothing to do with either of them. Her life couldn't have gotten any worse.

~~~~~~~:::::::::~~~~~~~:::::::::~~~~~~~::::::::::~~~~~~~:::::::::~~~~~~~:::::::::~~~~~~~

Draco stormed down the stairs, fighting back the tears that he wouldn't let fall. He didn't look at anything or talk to anyone as he fled the castle. It was freezing outside and he wished he'd brought a cloak, but he had needed to get out of there before he'd done something even worse than he'd already done. Before he even realized it he was standing by the lake, staring out over it, wondering how long it would take him to freeze to death were he to walk into it and not come out. This thought led to the thought of when or if anyone would even realize that he was missing, which in turn led to who would care if he was dead.

Harry and Ginny sat at the Gryffindor table at dinner that night in silence, both thinking about Hermione and Draco and their news. Neither of them had seen the couple since before lunch and Harry was beginning to worry that something was wrong.

"Ginny, I'm going to check on them after dinner," Harry said, picking at his beef stew.

"I think that's a good idea. I'll come with; I have to apologize to Hermione anyway."

They cut out of dinner early; looking to the Slytherin table one more time to be sure Draco wasn't here. As they searched, Blaise caught their eye and gestured for them to wait. He got to his feet and came to them.

"Have either of you seen Draco? I haven't seen him all day, but some of the guys say he was here this morning."

"Um, he and Hermione….they're having some trouble. It's not for us to tell you, but we were actually on our way to talk to them now," Harry explained.

Blaise nodded, "well, Susan and I are going for a walk after dinner, but sent me a note or something, let me know they're okay."

Harry nodded before taking Ginny's hand and walking upstairs with her. They took the longer Gryffindor shortcut route, which in this case wasn't a shortcut, and came through the portrait to find their common room almost dark. The fire was low and the lanterns were almost burned out. A quiet sniffle caught their attention and they realized that Hermione was lying on the floor in the fetal position, tears streaming from her eyes. They could tell she'd been crying for a long time, because her face was very puffy and when they sat down they could see that the floor was darker where her tears had made a wet spot.

"Hermione, what's wrong? Where's Draco?" Ginny asked, pulling Hermione up so she was leaning against her.

"He, I don't know where he is. It doesn't matter though. Where he is and when he'll be back isn't my concern anymore," Hermione said, her voice almost cutting off at the end as more tears and sobs engulfed her.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked soothingly.

"He, he broke up with me. He doesn't want me anymore, he doesn't want the baby," Hermione buried her face in Ginny's neck.

"Come on Hermione, how could he not want you anymore? And you don't know he doesn't want the baby," Harry said softly, sitting on her other side and putting an arm around her.

"He told me Harry! He told me he couldn't be with me anymore. And he said he didn't want the baby!"

"No!" Harry said sharply. "He didn't say that!"

Hermione nodded against Ginny's shoulder.

"Where is that git? I'll kill him!" Harry got to his feet in a rush.

"Harry, don't…." Hermione started, looking up from Ginny's shoulder, but she didn't finish, because her eyes were caught by a figure in the doorway.

Harry's eyes followed hers and he started forward with a growl. "You bloody git! What the bloody hell is wrong with you! You're too afraid of commitment to take care of your girlfriend and baby so you just dump them?" he shouted, coming to a stop in front of the blond haired boy.

"You don't understand Harry, and I don't expect you to, nor do I have to answer to you. This doesn't concern you," he said, sounding beaten and cold.

"It bloody well does concern me! Hermione is my best friend! She's my sister! You can't just treat her like shit and think you'll get away with it!"

"Harry," Hermione said quietly. She'd gotten to her feet, holding the doorframe to keep her balance. "Stop, he's right. It doesn't concern you. I knew what I was risking when I told him I was keeping it. We all make choices in our lives, and those choices shape everything else we do in life. Draco is perfectly within his rights to refuse both me and the baby, and I will…. I will move on, raise the baby by myself and raise it the way it deserves to be raised, by people who will love and cherish it."

"But 'Mione!" Harry protested.

"No Harry, it doesn't matter. He doesn't want us, so I'm not going to try to make him stay. We don't….we don't need him," Hermione faltered, refusing to look at the man in question.

"That's just ridiculous!" Harry exclaimed.

Hermione shrugged, "it's how it's going to be Harry, so just deal with it. I'm going to bed." She turned without another word, went into her room, and closed the door with a snap.

Harry stood in front of Draco for what seemed forever, glaring at him. Ginny came up next to him and put a hand on his arm. "Harry, this is what Hermione wants, just drop it."

"This isn't want Hermione wants Ginny, she's giving up, because she doesn't think anything she does will make a difference. She's saying those things to defend herself as best as she can, but she's already so torn up that it doesn't make a difference anyway. What is wrong with you?" he demanded of Draco.

"You don't understand Harry. I….I don't deserve Hermione, I don't deserve to be happy or to have a family."

Harry eyebrows arched quizzically. "How do you figure that?"

"I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of Harry. I did a lot of things that hurt other people, tore other families apart, took away their happiness. How can I deserve to be happy and have a family when I did all those things to other people?"

Harry's expression showed that he clearly understood what Draco meant, but wasn't buying it. "Ok, so you're saying that because you were a death eater and made some bad choices, you should be forever be condemned to a life of sadness? Of never having anything because of what you've taken from others?" when Draco nodded Harry continued. "So if you were a death eater and deserve nothing and Hermione was an Order member and fought only for others that means she should have everything she wants?"

Draco nodded again. "Hermione deserves to be happy with someone who will not condemn her to a life of being sneered at, being talked about and reviled because of their past."

"So she deserves to be happy, to be loved, to have a family?" Draco nodded again. "Draco, she had all of that with you," Harry said bluntly. "She was unbelievably happy with you, and you clearly loved each other, and she's pregnant Draco, she has a family too. And it is your luck that it is you that she has chosen to be happy with, to love, to start a family with."

"That doesn't negate what I've done or the fact that I shouldn't have any of that!" Draco responded hotly.

"Maybe not, but if Hermione deserves all those things then you're depriving of her of two of them by leaving her. Do you really think she will ever be as happy or as loved with anyone after she's been with you? The way I see it is you have only one choice, go back to her, make her happy. So you get out of the lifetime of sadness, of having nothing. You say you need to be deprived of those things to make it up to the families you deprived? Why don't you honor them instead by helping someone else be happy? Hermione deserves to be happy, and you can make her happy, so go do it."

Harry didn't give him a chance to reply, just wrapped an arm around Ginny's waist and led her through the shortcut door.

Draco stood there for a long time, considering what Harry had said. Finally he heaved a sigh and started for Hermione's door.

**So, not exactly the big decision as I had planned at first and no interaction with Mrs. Malfoy or the Weasleys but it adds chemistry. I know a lot of drama and sad sappy stuff in this chapter. I just thought that we needed to see that Draco was still haunted by his time as a Death Eater. I always kind of figured he was involved with all that stuff in fifth year too so that's where that came from (and I kind of forgot my time frame and liked where I went with this chapter). So if it doesn't really make sense, sorry, but that's what you're getting because I liked it. Blame the 6th movie, it made me think of what Draco would be like in this situation…. Hopefully there will be some Mrs. Malfoy in the next couple chapters; I think she really needs to be in there somewhere. I guess she's too busy to make an appearance for a while. : ) Anyway, let me know what you think. Too dramatic? Realistic enough? Also, I will probably be needing names for the baby, so if you have any good ones (boy and girl since I don't know what it will be yet), review them to me and I will take them into consideration.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Another longer chapter for all my fans : ) I wanted to say sorry to one reviewer who thought that Hermione getting pregnant was too cliché. I did not realize that there were so many stories just like mine. So, because of that I decided to change things up a bit. WARNING: this chapter has controversial topics in it. I will not say if I am for or against this topic until the end of the chapter, but to make the story a little more different I did this. If you don't like the thought of abortion then I suggest going to a more cliché story. Sorry if that makes people leave but it had to be done. Thank you for the reviews and alerts and just reading in general!**

**Chapter 17**

Draco hesitated outside Hermione's door, unsure what to do, mostly just afraid of what the uncannily brilliant witch would do to him if he showed his face. With another sigh he raised his hand and knocked on the door. When there was no answer he knocked again, louder and more insistent.

"Draco, please, please just leave me alone," came Hermione's soft wavering voice through the door.

For a moment Draco considered doing just that, leaving her alone to figure out what was going on. But he knew that if he walked away now, if he left things like this, things would never be the same for them, even if they were to get back together later. So mustering up his Slytherin courage, he ignored her request and opened the door himself, slightly surprised to find it not locked. The room was almost completely dark, the only lights coming from the moon through the window and the fire in the fireplace. Even with this dim lighting he could see Hermione lying on her bed, curled into a ball, her hands clutched in what looked like some kind of cloth, a blanket maybe.

"Hermione," he said in a whisper, going toward her.

She didn't move, but the small telltale sounds of crying stopped abruptly. "Draco, don't do this. Don't come in here and tear my heart apart even more. Just….go back to how your life was before you met me, before we got, involved. We'll pretend none of this happened and we can continue hating each other like we have forever. I can't….I can't do this."

"Hermione, we need to talk. I….I'm sorry for the way I reacted. It was wrong for me to say those things and to not really think before I made my decision. And I should have explained my reasons once I did tell you what I thought. Please, can't we just talk?"

Hermione sniffled and sat up slightly, leaning on her left arm for support. "Fine, let's talk. Let's talk about how you just out right told me that you don't want the baby that we made together! Let's talk about how you told me that you don't want me anymore! I don't see what there is to talk about, you made it clear what you wanted. And from what I can deduce, and I am an expert at deduction, I would say you just wanted someone to play with until something else came along, you just didn't count on me adding complications."

"I don't want to fight with you Hermione! I really want to talk to you!" Draco said in exasperation, using all his will power not to flinch as she reminded him of what he'd said. "And you're wrong about me using you."

She heaved a huge sigh, as if fighting back more sobs and finally said. "Alright, let's talk for real." And then she stared at him for five minutes while he tried to get his thoughts in order. "Well! You wanted to talk, so talk!"

"You need to understand why I don't want kids Hermione. I have to make you understand. And then we have to make a decision together. I was too hasty out in the common room. I wasn't able to think straight and you weren't helping me and I was, I am, terrified."

She stared at him with a surprised look now. "Okay, so explain it to me. What is wrong with having kids? Why can you absolutely not have them?"

"Well, Harry has talked some sense into me since I first said that. But when I told you that out in the common room, that I didn't want or deserve kids…it was because I don't deserve them Hermione. Harry may have talked to me but there's still a part of me that knows deep down that I have done too much bad in this world to deserve something as amazing as children. Now I see that instead of depriving myself of children because of the wrong I did others, I should honor those people by bringing life and happiness to the world."

"What, what did Harry say to you that could have changed your mind?" Hermione whispered. Draco couldn't help but notice that her hands were still buried in the cloth.

"He said that I should honor the dead, not disrespect them by depriving the world of happiness. He said that if I believed I deserved nothing in life for being a Death Eater then you deserved everything possible because of what you've done. He said that I may get out of a lifetime of 'punishment' but you would get what you deserved because you wanted me, I made you happier than he's ever seen you. And I agree, you do deserve everything, I just never saw that maybe I didn't have to suffer my whole life."

Hermione bit her lip, her eyes filling with tears. "How can you expect me to just take your word that you didn't mean it before? How can I trust you with my heart again after you broke it once? 'I can't be with you, I can't love you'." she quoted him.

He visibly flinched this time. "I thought I was protecting us both when I said that. But Hermione," he said, moving forward and grabbing her hands from the cloth and forcing her to look into his eyes, "I will spend the rest of my life trying to earn your trust again, trying to earn your love. I will do anything and everything you ask me to, if you let me love you again. I am so, so sorry for what I've done, and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you, if you give me the chance. Hermione Granger, I love you more than everything I own, everyone I know. I know how kind hearted you are, how willing you are to give people another chance. So please, please give me that chance too. Let me show you how much I love you," he pleaded.

Tears were streaming down Hermione's cheeks now and she blinked a few time and tried to take calming breaths. Finally she pulled one of her hands from Draco's grasp and wiped at the wetness on her face. When she was done her hand returned to the cloth.

"What is that?" he asked softly, looking at what her hand was clasped around.

"It….it's one of your shirts," she whispered. "You left it here one night and….it smells like you, reminds me of you. I…."

He smiled slightly before placing her remaining hand back down on the shirt.

"Draco, I….I know what you said, I understand it all. I understand about you're misgivings about having kids, I really do. And I see what Harry helped you realize. And I know that you're telling the truth about loving me. But….I think I need time to get my head on straight before I give you an answer. I just feel like we rushed into this whole thing way too fast and went about it backwards and I need time to figure out what's going on. This isn't a 'no' to your second chance. It's just a 'put everything on hold' until I know what I want. Can….can you understand that?"

"Of course," he said, succeeding in not sounding hurt. He knew why she was doing this and admired her for holding up against him. "Take your time, I will still be here, I will always be here, for you and no other."

"Draco," she whispered. "We….we still need to decide about the baby."

"I know. I'll agree with whatever you decide, but my opinion, and I've actually thought this time, is that we should wait. Since our relationship is as of now on hold and we do not know when it will be back on if ever, we shouldn't be parents together if we don't plan on caring for the baby as a family. And….I really think we would be better prepared if we waited until we were out of school. There is so much that we don't know, so much that we might want to do before children come into the picture. This time it's not the fact that it's a baby that I don't want it though Hermione. I just don't think this is the right time for us."

With a nod of understanding Hermione remained silent for a few minutes, mulling over what she wanted to do and adding his thoughts to what she was thinking. "I….I can't decide this right now. Can….can I have the night to think and tell you tomorrow what I want to do?" she asked softly.

"Of course, we have all the time in the world." Draco got up from his place at the edge of the bed and cleared his throat. "Well, good night Hermione, I love you," he said quietly, moving forward and kissing her forehead.

"Good night Draco," she replied. "Do….do you want your shirt back?" she asked, hoping with all her heart he would say no.

"No, you keep it, it'll probably do you more good than me," he said with a small smile.

She gave him a weak smile in return as he crossed the room and closed the door behind him.

Neither of them slept well that night, having become so used to the other next to them in the bed. Hermione was finally able to get to sleep around two in the morning but woke at six with another bout of morning sickness. Draco on the other hand tossed and turned all night and finally gave up, going to sit on his balcony with a warm blanket and a fire for company.

Around seven-thirty the next morning Draco sat alone in the common room, staring at the fire. The sound of a door opening and closing brought his attention to Hermione as she made her way to a chair across from him. She looked little better than he did, but was dressed for the day in muggle jeans and a long sleeve red sweater that added color to her white face. Her bushy hair was drawn up into a bun on her head and he could tell that she'd used some kind of spell or something to keep the flyaway hairs tame and to her head.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked, "were you sick again this morning?"

"I'm okay. Yes I was sick but I'm fine. I….I've made my decision Draco. We should go to Madame Pomfrey after breakfast." When Draco just stared at her, clearly not seeing this as a decision that made sense to him, she clarified. "To get an abortion potion. We aren't ready for children, and while I'm sure we would be fine, I don't think it's fair to the child or to us. I've always kind of….abortion isn't really a big deal to me like it is to some, and I'm sure others will think we made the right decision. And you were right, there are things we should get to do before we start having family, and we might not be a family together which would just stress all of us. So after breakfast we should go together to Madame Pomfrey to….take care of it," she said with a small sob. "I would just do it myself but this is something I wouldn't want to mess up, and I'm too emotional right now to deal with it."

"Alright Hermione," Draco said in return. "We'll go after breakfast. Speaking of which, I'm sure you're starving because I know I am, you want to go get something?" he asked.

She nodded slowly and got to her feet. "Don't forget that we're taking a break though Draco. I'm serious, I need time to get my life together."

He nodded silently and walked out of the room ahead of her, letting her know that he took her serious by not having them associated when they walked into the Great Hall. She couldn't help feeling a little hurt by that but knew that she had wanted it so couldn't say anything about it.

She walked into the Great Hall after him, all alone, and went to the Gryffindor table. Since she didn't see Ginny or Harry there she sat down by herself and looked at what was around her, trying to decide what she wanted to eat. Eggs and bacon sounded good to her this morning, she got put some on her plate and started eating. Halfway through her meal Harry and Ginny showed up.

"Hermione!" Ginny said in a surprised voice. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," she replied in a despondent voice.

"Did you talk to Draco at all?" Harry asked softly.

Hermione nodded, "we're talking a break so I can figure out what's going on with my life."

"So you're keeping the baby?" Ginny asked.

Hermione frowned, not sure how Ginny had gotten that out of her statement. "No Ginny, we're not keeping the baby. We're going to Madame Pomfrey after breakfast to get an abortion potion."

"What?" Ginny shouted, drawing a lot of attention, including that of Draco who knew immediately that Hermione had told her about the abortion.

"Stop Ginny, it's our decision, and you'll just have to accept it," Hermione replied.

"You and Draco are broken up?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded. "I'm sure it will all work out, and like I said, I'm here for you no matter what."

Before Hermione could thank him or Ginny could rile at her, a large eagle owl landed in front of her. Surprised and cautious since she didn't know anyone with an owl like this except Draco she hesitantly took the letter it held. Glancing at Harry and Ginny she carefully opened it and read the name at the bottom first, gasping in surprise.

_Dear Ms. Hermione Granger,_

_ I have been told, not by my son Draco, that you and he are in an intimate relationship. While I am disappointed that he has yet to tell me this news himself I wanted to express my joy that he has finally gotten himself together and found someone as clearly upstanding as yourself. I am sure this is a surprising letter from someone like me, but I thought it might ease any tension or uncertainty you had that I would not approve of you because of Draco's father's clear dislike for those of your background. Let me say now that I do not share that view and never did but for the sake of my marriage and my son I did not speak out against him. My source tells me that Draco looks happier now than he has in a long time and for that I am sure I must thank you. But I would sincerely like to do that in person, thank you that is. Please accept my invitation to spend this coming weekend with me and Draco at our home. I have spoken to the Headmaster and he has given permission for you to portkey from Hogsmeade if you so wish to come visit. Please consider my invitation and understand that if you cannot or do not wish to come this weekend there will be other times and I will not be offended._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Narcissa Malfoy_

Hermione bit her lip to keep down the tears. She'd been worried about Narcissa Malfoy's reaction to her son's relationship with a muggle born for weeks, months even. And now that they weren't even together anymore she found out that Narcissa approved of them.

"I have to get going," she said almost woodenly as she got to her feet.

"Good luck Mione," Harry said back, grabbing her hand and squeezing once before she nodded and walked away.

Draco met her at the doors and frowned at the almost pained look on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked. She didn't reply, just handed him the letter. "I knew she would approve of you, what's the problem?" he asked.

She just stared at him. "Draco, we aren't together anymore! I can't come to your house and let your mother believe we're in a relationship when we aren't! And I can't come and tell her we're not together because then she'll wonder what I'm doing there anyway!"

"Are you saying you're not coming?" he asked.

"Did you expect me to say yes? What would your mother think if you brought home a girl that, to her eyes, can't make up her mind if she wants you or not?"

"If there is one person in the world who understands that sometimes couples have problems it's my mother. Her and my father had more problems than a couple has a right to, so us being technically broken up won't make a difference to her. She'll still want to meet you, and if we do get back together you'll need to meet her anyway. We can just go as friends. Please?" he asked. "I'd really like you to meet my mother officially, without the tyrannical influence of my father."

Hermione sighed and nodded, "fine I'll come home with you, but you have to owl your mother and explain the situation and that I'm coming as a friend because we're taking a break."

"Deal," he said with a grin.

They had been walking as they argued and were now at the hospital wing. Hermione drew in a shaking breath as she looked at the door that would lead to one of the biggest decisions in her life.

**So there's the chapter. Let me know what you thought, good and bad. As already shown I try to do what my readers want, unless I've already written it, then you're out of luck. I actually had planned on them keeping the baby but after the review I decided against it. Up next is the visit with Mrs. Malfoy. Oh, and don't worry if things go as planned this story will be over a few years not just their seventh year so there will probably still be babies in it : ). Also, I am pro choice which is why it wasn't very hard for me to write this chapter. Thanks again!**


	18. Chapter 18

So I made my decision, partly based on the reviews I got, but mostly because of the fact that before I got that one review about it being cliché I had planned on them keeping the baby. I understand why people might think it's cliché, although I personally have never read any story quite like mine ;) and that's the thing. No two stories are going to be the same unless someone stole someone else's stuff. So even if they do keep the baby I feel that I will have a different take on this kind of story. So if you don't like it, sorry but too bad. Anyway, enjoy! Please review too and let me know if there's anything I should add/change. Also, I lied, Mrs. Malfoy isn't in this chapter or the next one but she is coming up!CHAPTER 18

Draco glanced at her and pushed the door opened for her, gesturing her in and placing a comforting hand on her back. Hermione's legs felt like wood, she knew she must look like a robot with her jerky movements. To her immense relief there were no other people there and she drew in another shaky breath.

"Hermione?" Draco said when she came to an abrupt stop a little ways from Madame Pomfrey's office.

"Draco," she whispered. "I….I can't do this," she wrung her hands together, fidgeting, trying anything to keep calm. "I can't….I'm so sorry Draco, I just can't do this to our baby."

Draco stopped and grabbed her hands as they made to make another circle around each other. "Ok, ok Hermione. Calm down, you need to breath. Just….ok. Do you…do you want some more time to think? We would be able to do something about it for a while I'm sure."

Hermione shook her head, secretly grateful that he was here with her and calming her down. "No Draco, I don't need any time to think about it. My mind wouldn't change with time. I can't do it, I can't kill it. Just….I want to keep it," she said, her eyes glistening with tears.

Draco just looked at her for a moment before nodding, "ok Hermione, if that's what you want. This was always ultimately your decision, and I will be with you every step of the way. Do you want to leave then?" he asked quietly.

Hermione considered and shook her head. "We….we'll need to see a Healer at some point, we might as well start with Madame Pomfrey. She'll find out soon enough anyway and just scold us for not being responsible and coming to her as soon as possible. Besides, I'd rather have a professional helping us instead of trying to figure it all out by ourselves."

"Alright, well then I suppose we should go tell her we're here then," he said with a smile.

Hermione returned his smile with a small watery one of her own. She nodded and allowed him to take her hand and lead her to the door to the mediwitch's office. With one last encouraging smile to Hermione, Draco knocked lightly on the door.

After a moment the door opened the Madame Pomfrey stepped out, seeming slightly confused to see the once rival students standing there together, seemingly unharmed. "Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, may I help you?" she said politely.

"Uh, um, well, yeah," Hermione said wincing as she realized how pathetic she sounded. "This is kind of awkward…."

"See the thing is, Hermione's pregnant and we thought we should come to you first," Draco said, handling the situation better than Hermione was able to.

Pomfrey's mouth dropped open and she just stared at them for a while. "You….Miss Granger, are you sure?" she asked in surprise.

Hermione nodded, "I found the potion in the library, it said it was never wrong. It came back positive."

"What potion was it?"

"It was called….the Zoeus Pregnatus Potion. I took it a few days ago."

"Here, come in one of the private back rooms and we'll talk further." The older woman grabbed a clipboard with some forms on it and led them to a room that Hermione had never even realized there was and gestured for her to sit down on the medical bed and for Draco to sit in the chair next to her. "Ok, to start with, what prompted you to take the potion in the first place? It's hard to believe that you just decided to take it."

Hermione glanced down at her clasped hands, "well, I'd been throwing up for a few days, in the morning. And I didn't think it was the flu because it only happened in the morning, and I realized that Draco and I….well we never used protection, and then I just had to find out."

"I see," she said. "How long have you been sexually active?" she asked.

Hermione blushed, having not thought this would come up. "Since October 31st."

"I see, is there a certain time you would like to guess that you might have gotten pregnant?"

Hermione looked at Draco, "well it could have been several times. I guess beginning of December maybe."

Madame Pomfrey nodded and started writing on one of the forms. "We can check how far along you are if you'd like," she said looking up at them again.

With a glance at Draco, Hermione nodded, "I'd like that."

"Alright, just a moment. Oh, and just out of curiosity, are you planning on keeping the baby? It'll tell me how much to tell you after the test."

Hermione frowned, "I'm keeping it, but what could this test tell? Other than when it was conceived?"

"Oh it will maybe tell a lot of things. It's not a fool proof test but it's the most accurate I have. It'll tell when it was conceived, possibly how magical it will be, the exact or almost exact due date, it could tell if there are any problems, and depending on how far along you are it might tell us the sex. Would you want to know that, or do you want it to be a surprise?" she asked.

"Wow, I've never heard of a test that could tell you all that!" Hermione exclaimed. "Why are there so many squibs if people could tell how magical their children will be?"

"Several reasons. For one thing this test isn't exact. Things in a pregnancy can always change. Magical properties in a fetus can fluccuate or change entirely throughout a pregnancy, just on their own. Add the magical abilities of the mother and what goes on during the pregnancy it could change also. For another thing most people are against the thought of getting rid of their babies just because it might not have enough magic to make it in the real wizarding world. So will you want to know all of this? Keep in mind it's just technically a guess at this point, it can change after this of course."

When Hermione looked at Draco he gave her another encouraging smile and nodded. "I think we'd both like to know anything you can tell us," Draco replied, reaching over and taking Hermione's hand. He didn't want to say anything, but he couldn't help feeling that her keeping the baby meant that she would eventually take him back too.

"Alright, Mr. Malfoy could I ask you to leave for a few minutes? It's not a big deal but it's school procedure that you have to leave while I do this," Pomfrey said. "I won't tell her anything until you come back so don't worry. It'll only take a couple minutes."

"Okay, I'll be right outside Hermione." He was so nervous that once he was in the main room of the infirmary he just paced back and forth. He'd made it from the private room's door to the main doors seven times before Madame Pomfrey opened it again and allowed him inside.

Hermione was fully on the bed now, leaning back against the folded up top half. "So? What could you see?" she asked, unable to contain her excitement.

"You're baby is surprisingly cooperative Miss Granger. You were right about the beginning of December, the 3rd actually. Your due date is approximately September 9th, which works out well since you'll be out of school by then. It's still a little too early to see if there will be problems, but I would guess that it's just fine. Magically it is very well equipt. With Mr. Malfoy's fully magical heritage and your own exceptional talents there is no way this child will be a squib. As for the gender….I'm afraid it's too soon to tell for sure. It's only about a month along to it's really not even that developed, but these other things are a little easier to determine."

Hermione heaved a huge sigh and smiled. "That's amazing! Isn't it amazing Draco?"

"It really is," he replied with a grin. "But, I'm kind of surprised your reaction is so calm Madame Pomfrey. I had this whole different story going in my head, and it was not a nice story."

Both students were shocked when the older lady smiled, she was usually very serious and didn't smile often, "well, something like this happened one other time and I had a less than calming reaction. No one was very happy with that, including Dumbledore and the Minister at the time, who happened to be the girl's uncle. I've learned since then to have a more controlled reaction to this kind of situation. While I am surprised that it is the two of you in this situation I am not concerned as I have been with others. You are both responsible young adults who will be well equipped to do just about anything you put your minds to. Of course, being pregnant in school is never the most ideal thing, and it is frowned upon, but if you don't want to get an abortion then I just have to accept that you are going through with it."

"Thank you. Um…. Should we set up a schedule to come see you or do we need to set something up with St. Mungo's? I've never dealt with anything like this so I don't know what we're supposed to do."

"Well for now we'll just set something up for here. As you get later into your second trimester we will have to work something out for you to have appointments at St. Mungo's with a trained maternity Healer. Not to mention you won't even be in school for the end of your pregnancy. I can help you for a while, but I'm not nearly trained enough for an advanced pregnancy."

"Alright, so how do we want to do this?" Hermione asked.

"Well….I think every other Saturday at 10:00 AM will work out fine. Since we've just done your first appointment your next will be after the New Year. I'll get a real schedule worked up and get it to you."

"Thank you so much Madame Pomfrey," Hermione said, and did something none of them expected, she pulled the woman into a hug.

"I just have one last question," Draco said hesitantly. "Um, well, when will Hermione start showing? I think it would be best if we tell the important people before she starts showing so they don't think we intentionally didn't tell them."

"That's a good question. It's different for everyone really, depending on their eating style, the weight gain of the baby, and just the overall effect the pregnancy has on your body. But to avoid any hard feelings about not telling people I would just tell the important people now, as soon as possible."

Hermione nodded. "Thanks again."

"Also, you will have to tell the Headmaster. If you haven't by our next appointment I'll have to do it myself, school policy and all."

"Right," Draco said. "We'll be sure to do that. See you next time, unless something happens before then."

She nodded and the two students left the infirmary. They walked slowly back to their common room and Hermione dropped onto the couch with a sigh. "Can you believe it? We're going to be parents in September?"

Draco smiled slightly, "it's really amazing. I never pictured it. Um, this is probably not the right time but I have to ask. How does this effect us?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, you're keeping the baby. I will be in its life Hermione. Now that you've made your decision and I've had sense talked into me I'm not just going to let you walk out of my life."

"I don't expect you to be uninvolved Draco. Truthfully I don't know how it'll effect us. I only just made my decision to take a break yesterday, I'm not going to back out of that any time soon. You will be part of our life, I just don't know what part you'll play yet. So, um, are we going to tell your mother this weekend?"

Draco inhaled deeply and closed his eyes for a moment. "I think it would be best to tell her as soon as possible. If we wait someone else is going to find out and tell the papers and then she'll be very upset that she didn't find out from us. So she's on the top of our list of people to tell. Oh, and Blaise will have to know. I forgot about him in all this chaos."

Hermione giggled, "I did to. I think….well Harry and Ginny know already. I think I should let the rest of the Weasley family know. They're like my second family, they need to know. Sirius should probably know too. My parents should know too, but, well they can wait until we get another break. It's not like they'll be ready the papers or anything." With these words Hermione's lip trembled and she let out a small sob.

"Oh Mione, don't cry, it's okay," Draco said as he took her in his arms and let her cry.

"It's just…they won't be there to see the baby! They won't get to be grandparents, babysit for us, buy gifts."

"I….I never actually heard what happened to them. I just knew you'd been living with the Weasleys until term started. Do you want to talk about it?" he whispered into her hair.

"There's not a lot to talk about. I had sent them to Australia during the war to protect them. I did a memory charm on them, to make them forget they even had a daughter, and….Well, I went to look for them when the war was over, and I couldn't find them anywhere. Harry even pulled some strings in the Ministry and had some of their best trackers sent, but we never found a trace at all. After about a month they were declared dead and we held a funeral without their bodies."

"So they might not be dead?" he asked.

"Draco, everyone who could have helped us tried. It's like they never existed. It's too late, they're dead. I think some Death Eaters found them and did a good job hiding their bodies."

"It's possible, I was never high enough in the roster to have been told any of the top secret missions, and that would have been one. We'll go to their graves the first chance we get, I promise. For now we should write to those important to us that we won't be seeing soon."

Hermione nodded. "We should tell Blaise tonight probably, and let Harry and Ginny know that we're keeping it, Ginny is pretty upset with me."

"You're right. I'll have some lunch sent up for us and then we can owl them and invite them over before dinner. Sound good?" he asked.

Another nod accompanied Hermione's answer, "yes, that sounds pretty good. If there is any could you have the house elves send up some peppermint tea? And some baked chicken?"

"Sure, no problem, I'll be back as soon as possible." With a kiss to Hermione's hand Draco got up and left the room, throwing a smile and wink behind him as he went.

After a nice quiet lunch Hermione and Draco took a nap, not together because Hermione was standing firm about the break, but they both slept for a while. About two hours before dinner they settled in the common room again, Hermione laying on one of the couches comfortably. A knock at the door announced the arrival of their three friends.

"Hermione! Are you alright? We haven't seen or heard from you all day! We were really worried!" Harry said, rushing to her side. "How did it go at the hospital wing?"

"What's going on? What's wrong with Hermione? And why were you in the hospital wing?" Blaise demanded.

"Blaise, we have something very important to tell you, and an update for you two," Draco said, glancing at the two Gryffindors. "Hermione's pregnant," he said simply.

Blaise simply sat there, mouth slightly open, gaping at them. Ginny and Harry looked at each other for a moment then burst into noise. "You mean you're keeping it? But you sounded so sure! You were going to get rid of it!" Ginny exclaimed, hugging Hermione.

"Well it turned out that when I actually went to do it, I just couldn't. So yes, we're keeping it. We're still taking a break from our relationship, but we're having the baby. Madame Pomfrey says it's about a month along, due in September, and very magically gifted."

"Wait! What is going on? Why am I the last to find out you're having a baby? And that you've broken up?" Blaise exclaimed, getting up from the seat he'd sunk into.

"We….we've been having a rough couple days Blaise. The only reason Harry and Ginny know is because they were there inconveniently when Hermione told me. I swear if our lives hadn't been so messed up I would have told you a lot sooner. But yes we're having a baby, and we're not together anymore. I reacted very badly when she told me about the baby and now I have to dig myself out of my own dug hole."

Blaise seemed to consider this and finally nodded. "I bet you have a big hole to climb out of, considering your previous feelings on children."

"Yeah, so it's been too crazy to think about anything else. I'm sorry mate," Draco said.

"No, it's fine. I completely understand."

"Hermione! You're having a baby!" Ginny squealed. "And we'll be out of school and I'll get to babysit all the time! It's so exciting! Were you able to find out the sex yet?"

Hermione shook her head from her position on the couch. "Pomfrey tried but it's too soon to be sure. I have to owl your family tomorrow, and Sirius, and Remus too. I'm still really worried about how they'll react, I don't even think they know Draco and I are together. Oh merlin! That means that my baby will be related to Sirius! And in retrospect and kind of oddly it'll be related to you Harry!"

Harry grinned, "only you would have worked that out so early on Hermione. I'm just glad you're happy and we'll be here every step of the way to help in any way we can."

"I know," she whispered, "that's why I love you so much."

**Ok so I had a change of mind after this chapter. I had at the beginning of the story that Voldemort was killed in their Fifth year. Well I'm changing that to everything is the same from all 7 books until the epilogue, obviously in my story that doesn't happen. Also a difference is the people who died. The ones who died and/or lived that I said at the beginning are the same, so Voldemort, Bellatrix, and Lucius are dead while Sirius, Tonks, Remus, and Fred are still alive. It just worked out better. The potion Hermione used I made up, Zoe means life so I made up Zoeus and Pregnatus kind of means pregnany lol. I originally had it planned for the baby to be born in July, so if there are any typos that say July instead of September I'm sorry. If there's anything else wrong with it let me know and I'll either fix it or apologize next time ;) Also, my chapters have been getting longer, like I just can't stop writing! Lol so expect longish chapters from now on.**


	19. Chapter 19

Ok here's the next chapter. Kind of slow, but it gives a little more information. Thanks everyone for reviewing, reading, and alerting!CHAPTER 19

Two days later three owls flew down in front of Hermione at the breakfast table. She recognized Erol right away, took his letter and set it aside, saving Molly's response for last. She was pretty sure the screech owl was Sirius's and the barn owl must be from Remus. With a sigh she opened Sirius's letter first.

_Hermione,_

_Thank you for sending me your last letter. I was a little surprised, not only by the content of the letter but that you hold me in such high regard that you saw fit to tell me about it so soon. I'm sure you told Molly as well and there is no telling how she will respond so in light of how negative her letter could be I will take the positive road and tell you that I am surprisingly happy for you. I know you are more than equipped to take care of a baby. I was surprised to hear that you are or were in a relationship with Draco Malfoy and he is the father, but that just means that your child will be related to me and will hopefully inherit my personally. If it's not too much trouble, with all your school work, Head duties, and the baby, keep me in the loop._

_Sirius_

Hermione smiled. Of all three people she'd sent letters to she'd known that Sirius was guaranteed to be happy for her. He was rarely concerned with school things so probably didn't even take that into account upon reading about it. And the part about inheriting his personality made Hermione giggle out loud. Sobering a little and taking a breath she opened Remus's letter. He and Tonks had recently had their own baby, Teddy, so she was unsure how they would react.

_Dear Hermione,_

_You will never know how surprised we were when we got your letter and read the contents. We're glad your year has been going good, and that you've found someone to be happy with, though we were surprised to find that it wasn't with Ron. You will understand if we have our misgivings about Draco, but we trust you so will come to trust him, especially since he is the father of your baby. Speaking of which, do you realize that through your child you will be related to not only Tonks and Teddy, but also Sirius? We will not beat around the bush, so the saying goes, we were very worried when we heard about the pregnancy. We were shocked that you had let this happen and that Draco was the father, and mostly because you are still in school. We just recently had Teddy so we know the commitment it takes to have a baby, and the toll it takes on both mother and father. If you were any other person I would say this was a very bad idea. However, you are Hermione Granger. If there is one person I have full faith in to be able to do this properly it is you, and this might sound a little unkind, but our numbers have been dwindling since the war, so your baby will start adding to the numbers again. Anyway, in retrospect, we are happy for both you and Mr. Malfoy and hope that things work out for you, having a baby is hard enough together, don't let small things keep you apart. You'll need his help and support soon enough. Take care and keep us updated._

_Love,_

_Remus, Tonks, and Teddy_

Hermione sighed again and closed her eyes. It seemed like Remus had been having an internal battle throughout his letter, as if he couldn't decide if he was happy or disappointed. She chose to believe the first and smiled, two of the three were in support of her decision. She opened her eyes again and they fell to the last letter. With shaking hands she reached for it.

"Hermione! I've just heard the most preposterous thing!" Pavarti exclaimed, hurrying up with Lavender by her side.

Hermione looked up at her, her hand resting on the letter from Mrs. Weasley. "Oh? And what was that? Ron's grown a brain?" she had no idea where that had come from and immediately wished she could take it back. Just because they weren't friends didn't mean she had to be spiteful.

Pavarti actually giggled a little, "No, actually. We were just walking past Harry and that Blaise bloke from Slytherin, and they were talking about you. Hermione, they said you were pregnant!"

Hermione just sat there staring at her.

"Well say something! I thought Harry was your friend! Why would he be spreading things like that about you? You have to go tell him off!" Lavender said. Hermione looked at her calculatingly. She was pretty sure the girl looked a little too smug.

"Oh, um, well you see, the thing is….I can't really tell him off for saying that stuff." Hermione took a deep breath but before she could continue she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hermione, how are you doing?" Draco asked, doing the unspeakable by sitting down next to her at the Gyffindor table.

"I'm alright, thank you for asking. Pavarti and Lavender were just telling me that Harry and Blaise were talking about me, saying I was pregnant. I was just thinking about what to tell them in response." She knew he would get what she was saying, she was asking if they should start telling people.

"Oh, oh I see. Well, the truth is always the best I've learned. Lies always come back to bite you in the arse."

"That's what I was thinking. In that case, you two might want to sit down so you get the facts right before you start gossiping." Hermione waited until the two girls had practically leapt onto the bench across from them. "Well the truth is that I _am_ pregnant. So really I can't tell Harry off for it, though I will be having a word with him. I just found out a few days ago. And before you ask, it's Draco's, not Ron's or anyone else's. We're keeping it too. It'll be born after we're done with 7th year. Other than that, I don't really think it's any of your business."

The two girls' mouths were dropped open in amazement. "Are you serious? You're really pregnant Hermione?" Lavender asked.

Hermione nodded but before she could respond another voice broke in.

"That's just lovely. Isn't is Pansy? Granger and Malfoy, going to be parents? I wonder what everyone will think. What about my mother? What will she think when she finds out that Ms. Know-It-All got herself knocked up?" Ron said nastily, looking to the girl at his side.

"For your information _Weasley_," Hermione said, "everyone we've talked to has been happy for us. And by the way, this letter," she waved it in front of him, "is from your mother. I will be finding out soon enough how she feels about it. That's right, I owled her, Remus, and Sirius a few days ago, and they've all just replied."

Ron sneered at her, "well I'm sure she'll say something nice because she doesn't want to hurt your fragile little feelings, but we all know how she'll really feel. How will you bare the disappointment? Not being all perfect and top of the class and all that?"

Hermione leapt to her feet, "Not that it's any of your business, I intend to _stay_ top of the class, and I never claimed to be perfect. Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I won't be able to maintain my studies and my Head Girl duties. Now unless you intend to be a little more civil I suggest you move along, there's probably a few homework assignments waiting for you to fail."

Ron's face went red in anger and embarrassment. "Whatever, _mudblood_."

A gasp left Hermione's lips at his words. No one besides Draco and Death Eaters during the war had ever called her that. She certainly had not expected it from Ron, who had gotten so mad when Draco had called her it. No more words came out of her mouth as he smirked and walked passed with Pansy, who's head was held up in the air like she was the queen of the world.

Hermione looked around her, still in shock, unable to focus on the faces around her. She saw Pavarti and Lavender's shocked and upset faces, Seamus and Dean down the table looking slightly outraged, and Draco, standing next to her, looking ready to kill someone.

"I, I need to go," Hermione said softly, grabbing the three letters and running from the Hall.

With a glance at Lavender and Pavarti, Draco left the Hall quickly after her. There were only a few places that she would have gone, the first of which was their rooms. After checking there he checked the library. He was not too surprised that she wasn't there either. With a growl of annoyance that she would do something so stupid he headed to the Astronomy Tower. Throwing open the door he sighed in relief to see her standing near the edge, her arms, one hand still clasping the letters, wrapped around her waist.

"Hermione?" he asked softly, walking up next to her. It was nearing the end of December, tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and she was standing out here in just jeans and a red and purple striped sweatshirt.

"I can't….I can't believe he said that. I mean, I know we aren't friends, but….that's one thing I was sure he would never resort to." Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was shivering.

"We need to go back inside Hermione, you can't get sick now. It's not good for the baby," Draco said softly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

She looked up at him, almost in surprise. With a weak nod she allowed him to lead her back into the building, but once inside she didn't move. "Why do you love me? Why do you want to be with me? I'm just a mudblood! I'm not important! I shouldn't be allowed to be here at Hogwarts or in your presence or breathing the same air as you. I'm unworthy. You were right all those years, you and Ron and Voldemort. Muggleborns don't belong anywhere with magic. Why Draco? Why do you love me?" She was almost hysterical now.

"Hermione!" He said loudly, taking her shoulders and looking at her. "You have _every_ right to be here! You are the most brilliant person I have _ever_ met! You have more magical talent in one finger than half the purebloods in and out of this school! I love you for a thousand reasons! I love you because you're brilliant, and kind, and compassionate, and bloody beautiful! I love you because your hair is crazy, your nostrils flare when your mad or upset, your eyes practically sparkle when your happy, and you always have this little bounce in your step when you walk that lets people know your happy being who you are. I love you because you're bossy and demanding and tend to get yourself in over your head. I love you because you are _fiercely_ loyal to those you love, you are better friends with Harry and Ginny that I have ever seen, you are an amazing friend even to those who don't deserve it. But mostly I love you because after all I've done to you, you love me back, you gave me a second chance against everything I deserved. You are the most amazing person in the world, and the most talented witch to go through this school since Dumbledore himself."

Hermione gave him a watery smile, sniffling a little. "Harry's the Boy-Who-Lived though," was her comeback to his completely spontaneous and heartfelt speech.

Draco couldn't help bursting out laughing. "Harry? He's a flea compared to the incredible person you are. I'm serious Hermione, if there was ever a person who deserved to be here it's you. Don't listen to people who try to put you down, they're just trying to make themselves feel better about how badly their own lives are going. He's not worth being upset over."

She finally nodded and sucked in a big breath, fighting back the tears. "Thank you Draco, for being here."

"There is no where else in the world that I will be, ever. I will always be here for you Hermione, and I will eventually prove it to you. Let's get you back to the common room so you don't get sick from being out in the cold."

He led her back their rooms, pulled a couch close to the fire, made her sit down, conjured a blanket and tucked it around her. "So what did the letters say?"

She looked down at her hand, just remembering that she'd gotten them. "Remus and Sirius are happy for us. I didn't realize that the baby will make me related to both of them, because Remus and Tonks are married now."

"You'll be related to them after we get married too you know," he whispered beside her.

Hermione smiled almost shyly. "I didn't read Mrs. Weasley's yet, I haven't had the chance."

"Well you should read it now," he suggested.

She nodded and opened the letter.

_Dearest Hermione,  
_

_I was so surprised to get your letter! Ginny wrote awhile ago and told us that you and Ron have had a terminal falling out and that you are now seeing Draco Malfoy. This alone shocked us considering the history you have. I am very sad that you will not be my daughter in the true sense, but you will always be part of this family, and as long as you're happy with Mr. Malfoy then we are happy for you too. Now as for this baby business. Let me first say that I am rather disappointed that you were not more responsible in your extracurricular activities. That being said, you have no idea how happy it makes me that I will finally have grandchildren! Of course they will only technically be honorary; but it does not make it any less true. The situation is not ideal naturally, but given your maturity, intelligence, and strength I think you and Mr. Malfoy will be just fine. I cannot wait until you come visit! You will surely be showing by then and then you'll be having the baby by the summer! You will simply have to let Arthur and I babysit for you! I have missed having little ones running around! Take care Hermione, be careful, you don't want to lose the baby over something small, and you write me right off if Ronald gives you any trouble. I know how he can be when he feels he's been slighted and you do not need the added stress of his pettiness. So let me know if he bothers you and I will straighten him out. Cannot wait to see you, and Draco of course, next time you can visit. I'm sure Dumbledore will allow you to visit over Easter. See you soon!_

_With All Our Love,_

_Molly & Arthur_

_XOXO_

_P.S. As you requested I told the rest of the family and all have expressed their congratulations for me to pass to you. Fred and George are especially excited to have a little one they think they will be able to corrupt. Love lots._

Hermione didn't realize that she had tears streaming down her cheeks until Draco pulled her toward him and wiped them away.

"Are you alright?" he whispered.

"I just didn't expect that kind of reaction from her. She…it's like nothing has changed, even though Ron and I aren't friends anymore. She wants us to visit and I'm just so surprised that she even wants to be a part of this."

"I think you should rest for a while and then we'll see if the others want to come hang out okay?"

Hermione nodded and instead of moving away to lay on the couch or even go to her room, she snuggled closer to Draco. He couldn't suppress his smile as he shifted them so he was lay on the couch and she was laying partly on top of him, his arms wrapped around her.

When they woke up later Draco left to get Blaise and Hermione went to the Gryffindor common room to see what Harry and Ginny were up to. She had forgotten that she'd told Pavarti and Lavender about the baby, because when she got to the common room everyone there turned to stare at her. Blushing slightly, Hermione made her way to the chairs by the fireplace, where Harry and Ginny were wrapped together talking.

"Hey guys, want to come back to my place and hang out?" Hermione asked quietly.

Ginny bit her lip and got to her feet to let Harry get up. "Hermione….I just wanted to say how sorry I am about Ron. Seamus and Dean told us. He was….he was bang out of line and I'm going to be having words with him."

Hermione shrugged, "its fine Ginny. I just have to accept the fact that there will be people like him everywhere I go. The sooner I get used to ignoring them the sooner I can go on living like nothing is wrong. So you coming or what?"

Harry and Ginny exchanged a concerned look behind Hermione's back before smiling and following her back to the Head's common room where Blaise and Draco were already sitting. They spent the rest of the day together, talking, laughing, and at one point talking about Ron, brought up by Blaise.

**I know, kind of slow, but I really liked this chapter. Everyone is happy for her. What did you think of the interaction with Ron? I'm not sure where I'm going with that side of the story yet. Suggestions? Thanks again for reading, reviewing, and alerting guys! You're the best!**


	20. Chapter 20

**I am so very sorry for not updating this story before now. I was really busy this spring with some difficult college classes and when I wasn't doing school work I was just too worn out to write. I'm really hoping that I will be able to update more now that summer has come, but if I can't, I'm really sorry.**

**CHAPTER 20**

Christmas day came all too soon and Hermione rushed to the bathroom with another fit of morning sickness. Once it passed she got to her feet slowly, returned to her room and wrapped herself in her bathrobe. Draco was sitting in one of the armchairs in the common room, staring into the fire, already dressed and groomed for the day.

"Happy Christmas," he said softly when she sat down on the couch across from him.

A faint smile answered him, "happy Christmas Draco."

"Would you like to open your gifts now? Or wait?" he asked.

"Oh, I always open them in the morning, I just needed a little rest, this morning sickness is really getting to me," Hermione replied with an excited smile, as if she had just remembered that there were gifts waiting for her. "Besides, we're going to your house later today so we should open them now."

When she made to stand up Draco jumped to his feet, "no, no, I'll get it, you just relax." He went to the tree that Hermione had insisted they set up and picked up her pile of presents, bringing them back to the table to set in front of her.

"You didn't have to do that Draco," Hermione said as she leaned forward in her seat to reach the presents easier. It was a modest sized pile, not overly large, but not too small either. To her surprise it was about the same size as Draco's when he brought his to the table too.

The first one she opened was from Ginny. She let out an audible gasp when she opened the box to see the lacy bra and panty set inside, emerald green trimmed in gold. She had never owned anything as racy as this and her face turned red just at the thought of wearing it. "Oh Gin, what were you thinking?" she moaned.

"What did she give you?" Draco asked, unable to contain his curiosity.

Hermione sighed and held up the bra and panties. She took in Draco's surprised and suddenly excited expression and rolled her eyes.

"I think it was very thoughtful of her to give you such a pretty, practical gift."

A glare from Hermione almost cleared the smirk from his face, but he couldn't resist the small chuckle he emitted.

Harry's gift was much more like what she was used to getting, it consisted of a very large book on being a parent. It talked about the pregnancy itself, the stages the child would go through as it grew, and the stages the parents would go through as the child grew. She felt tears spring to her eyes as she flipped through the pages, it was the greatest gift ever. The Weasleys sent the traditional homemade sweets and hand knit sweater, this year's theme seemed to be centered on her and Draco (the picture on the front of the red and silver sweater was that of a lion and snake curled together in an embrace). She was surprised to see gifts from Remus and Tonks, which consisted of more baby books, and Sirius, who seemed to feel that she needed more fun in her life, because he sent a basket of joke stuff, which the twins mirrored in their gift. Blaise had also gotten her a book, but this one was on the different kinds of food she might crave as she progressed through the pregnancy. It told what foods were common for what type of people during which stage and for those with different personal qualities. She thought it was funny and thoughtful.

The last parcel in her pile was wrapped in shiny green paper with a silver ribbon wrapped around it. It was relatively small but she had no idea what it could be, and there was no name on it. A few tares and she had it unwrapped. Underneath the wrapping paper was a jewelry box. Carefully pulling off the lid to the box, Hermione gave a gasp as she looked at it's contents. Inside was a diamond and ruby teardrop necklace with matching earrings. She reached out a tentative finger to caress the necklace's pendent.

"Do you like it?" a voice penetrated her thoughts. She looked up to see Draco looking at her expectantly.

"What? Wait, you mean? Draco did you get this for me?" she demanded incredulously.

He nodded with a grin, "I thought it would look beautiful against your neck, and…. well I thought it would look amazing with the rest of my present." With those words he pulled another box out of his pocket and opened it for her to see. Inside this pox was a diamond and ruby ring to go with the necklace and earrings. Hermione gasped and covered her mouth.

"Draco, I… I can't accept that," she whispered. "It… I'm not ready for that!"

He grinned and let out a small laugh, "Hermione, I'm not asking you to marry me! I'm no more ready for that than you are! This is merely a promise ring, a promise that I will wait for you forever, for as long as you make me wait, and I'm hoping that by accepting and wearing it, you agree to think about it and consider taking up a real relationship with me again someday. You don't even have to wear it on your ring finger, I just…. I need to know that you're really going to consider us as a couple again one day. As long as you wear this ring I'll know you're considering it, I know I can hope for a future for us and the baby." His grin and laugh had disappeared by the end of his speech; instead he was very serious and was looking deep into her eyes.

Tears were shining in Hermione's eyes as she looked back and forth between the "promise ring" that must have cost a fortune, and the young man who would always hold her heart. "Alright Draco, I promise to wear your….extremely expensive promise ring as a symbol that there is still hope for us as a couple. But I will not wear it on my ring finger, that would cause a lot of unwanted attention. And this does not mean we are a couple."

Draco's face lit up with happiness and he wrapped her in a hug. "Thank you so much Hermione."

Hermione smiled as he let her go before carefully taking the ring out of it's box and slipping it onto the ring finger of her right hand. She had to admit that it looked very nice on her hand.

Eventually, they both got up and got dressed. Breakfast in the Great Hall was jovial and louder than usual as students talked happily to each other about the gifts they received and their plans for the rest of the day. Hermione and Draco parted ways as usual and sat down at their respective tables.

"Happy Christmas Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed, hugging the other witch tightly.

"Happy Christmas to you too Gin, and you Harry. Thank you both for the gifts, although I felt like strangling you when I first opened yours Ginny!"

Ginny grinned and winked at her, "I figured it would look nice. Besides, I'm positive Draco was there with you when you opened presents and I'm sure he appreciated my gift to you very much. Maybe soon he'll get to fully appreciate it…."

Hermione blushed, but couldn't help smiling. After glancing over to Draco's table and noticing him watching her with a smile, she focused on the food in front of her and began eating.

"So Hermione, that's a pretty nice ring you got there. Christmas gift?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, um, yes, it is. Draco gave mea whole set. Don't look at me like that guys. This ring doesn't mean we're together again. It just means that I've agreed to think about giving us another chance, it's a promise ring."

"Well even so, guys don't just spend so much money on a ring for any random girl. I know it's not my place Mione, but he really is trying to make up for his lapse of judgment. And you know you're going to give in to him sooner or later," Harry said with a smirk.

"I know no such thing Harry James Potter. For all you know I might decide that he's not worth the trouble! Or I could decide that I'll just keep the jewelry and tell him I can't see him ever. You never know."

"You're going to his house today right? To stay the weekend? To meet his mother? It definitely sounds to me like you're seriously considering taking him back. Wouldn't it be nice to go to his mother and say 'Mrs. Malfoy, I'm Hermione Granger and I'm you're son's girlfriend and the future mother of his child.'? As of now, all you get to say is 'Mrs. Malfoy, I'm Hermione Granger and I once dated your son but we aren't dating anymore but I just thought I should meet the mother of the man who got me pregnant.' Personally I think the first one sounds better," Harry replied seriously.

Hermione sighed, "I know you guys are right, and I know how I feel about him. I just….I don't want to rush into this again. I need to think rationally about my life and the life of my child."

"Hermione, don't you know that there's nothing at all rational about love? And we all know that you love that arrogant git," Ginny teased. "We know you think you need time, and we're not trying to pressure you. We just think….you would be so much happier, and in turn the baby would be happier, if you forgave Draco and took him back. Sooner or later this is going to start stressing you, and once classes start again you won't need even more to stress about. Just think about it?"

"I think about it all the time Gin. But I promise, I'll give it some serious thought, just for you," she teased. "Well, I should get back to my dorm and finish packing my things, we're leaving before lunch so if I don't see you before we leave I'll see you when we get back." She hugged them both and got to her feet. She'd barely made it out of the Great Hall when Draco called her name to wait and she couldn't resist smiling.

An hour later they were standing in Dumbledore's office waiting to take their Portkey to Malfoy Manor. Hermione would be lying if she said she wasn't a little worried about how this weekend would go, but she knew that Draco's mother would take everything in stride and had a right to know what was going on in her son's life, and in turn her grandchild's.

"Are we ready?" Dumbledore ask jovially as he picked up a glass bowl and brought it toward the two students. When they nodded, he gestured for them to take hold of it and he in turn let it go. With the distinctive pull on the naval, the two disappeared from Hogwarts to land less than gracefully in the entrance hall of Draco's childhood home.

"Draco! And Hermione! It's wonderful to see you both!" exclaimed a woman's excited voice before they had even gotten their bearings.

**There's chapter 20. I'm not sure where I'm going with this story, mostly because I can't think of a way to get around to where I want it to end. Next chapter is the weekend at Malfoy Manor, we'll see where it goes from there. Enjoy!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey guys, I am SOOOO sorry that this is so late. I kind of lost all my writing ambition for a while, then got it back and lost it again. And now I'm having a whole bunch of school work thrown at me so I have even less time to write. Updates will be slow (as you can see) but I will keep writing. I honestly don't know exactly where this story is going; I'm one of those people that makes it up as I go, so we'll see! Thanks for reading!**

**Chapter 21**

"Mum, it's wonderful to see you too," Draco said as he helped Hermione to her feet carefully. "I hope life has been good for you while I've been away?"

"It's been a little lonely, but very fulfilling. I've been doing so many little projects with my free time that I feel so accomplished! Oh, but look at my manners, come, come sit in the lounge and relax." The regal blonde woman led the two into a spacious lounge with a huge bay window that looked out on the wintery grounds of the Malfoy estate.

This bubbly woman was not the person Hermione remembered from her brief meetings with her. Narcissa Malfoy always seemed so severe to her, so withdrawn and strict. This woman was happy and cheerful. It was clear that being out from under the shadow of both Lucius and Voldemort has allowed her to bloom into the woman she could have become long ago.

"Tea? Biscuits?" Mrs. Malfoy asked them as she snapped her fingers and a house elf appeared with a large tray.

Once they were all settled with cups of tea and a few biscuits each an uncomfortable silence fell on the room. Hermione tapped her fingers on her teacup a few times absently, trying to think of something to get a conversation going.

"Mrs. Malfoy, I just wanted to thank you for extending this invitation to me. I realize that Christmas is a time for family and I am inconveniencing you by being here."

Narcissa just smiled and shook her head, "nonsense Hermione dear. You are in a relationship with my son, this by my definition makes you family, and therefore more than welcome any time you wish to come here. Besides, I invited you, there is no inconvenience in that."

Hermione had to force herself not to cringe at these words. She and Draco had agreed that they would tell his mother in person about the developments in their relationship, she just hadn't realized it would be this hard. "Well, the thing is Mrs. Malfoy…." Hermione trailed off, unable to say the words she knew she had to.

"Hermione and I are not in an intimate relationship anymore mother," Draco said from her side, discretely taking her hand and squeezing it.

Narcissa's forehead furrowed with her frown of confusion. "I don't understand. It was only a few weeks ago that I learned of your relationship, that's not nearly enough time to know if you work well together. If you are no longer together, why did you feel it was necessary to come? Not that you aren't welcome Hermione, you are more than welcome, I just do not understand why you are still even on speaking terms if you have broken off your relationship."

"Well, you see mother, it's just that….an unforeseen event has taken place and I'm afraid I made a fool of myself upon learning of the event. Because of my foolishness Hermione thought it would be best if we took a break from each other. She has promised to reconsider, to think about taking me back, after she's had time to ruminate on what she wants in her life."

Narcissa sighed, "you, my dear son, are sometimes too similar to Lucius in his young years. But still, what event could have happened to affect you both so drastically?"

"Mrs. Malfoy, I feel it is my duty to inform you that I am pregnant with your son's child and that we intend to keep it and raise it together, whether we resume our relationship or not," Hermione whispered, her eyes locked with those of the Malfoy matriarch.

"You're pregnant? With Draco's child?" Narcissa asked as if she were too stunned to believe it the first time.

"Yes ma'am. Our child was conceived at the beginning of the month. We….we would have written you and told you sooner but we thought that it would be better to tell you all of this information in person. I'm sorry," Hermione said, looking down, suddenly ashamed of herself in the presence of this woman.

Narcissa stood from her chair across from the two teenagers and moved quickly to sit beside Hermione. "Do not be sorry Hermione. You cannot know how happy this news makes me! After the war, Draco continuously persisted that he was never going to have children, so adamant was he that I gave up hope of ever having grandchildren. You have restored that hope to me. I do not care that you are so young, or that you have not finished your education. I do not even care about the manner in which you both must have conducted yourselves to get to this point. You have restored my hope that Draco will not continue to punish himself for things beyond his control. You are a remarkable young woman and I will be proud to one day call you daughter. Thank you Hermione."

Hermione was so surprised by this heartfelt speech that she didn't even hesitate to return the embrace that Narcissa captured her in. She couldn't help the tears that slipped from her eyes as the older woman pulled away.

"Oh, do not cry! This is a joyous occasion, you should be happy, not sad," Narcissa said with a chuckle, wiping at Hermione's cheek with her thumb.

"I am happy. I just wasn't expecting you to be quite so….enthusiastic about this whole thing."

"Well I am! It's something worth celebrating! I'm so proud of both of you," she said, reaching around Hermione to hug her son. "You've done well Draco."

"Thank you mother. Now that we're all so happy," he said with a smile, "did you get my gift?"

"Yes I did, but I did not open it yet, I thought we could have kind of a family Christmas and open each other's gifts together," Narcissa explained.

"Wonderful," Draco said. Narcissa snapped her fingers again and two different house elves appeared carrying a multitude of gifts. It took them a few minutes to sort through them and once done they disappeared again. Hermione was surprised and a little upset that she had a pile of gifts, she had not gotten Draco's mother a gift, unsure if it was appropriate.

"Mrs. Malfoy, before we begin I really must protest! Not only have you gotten far too many gifts for me, but even one would be too much because I did not get you one in return! It wouldn't be right to accept, but thank you for thinking of me," Hermione said softly.

Narcissa chuckled. "I don't want any gifts from you Hermione. Even if I hadn't found out that you were pregnant and as such were giving me the greatest gift in the world I would have still bought you all of this, and I will not take them back, so either keep them or they will go to waste. See, unlike my husband, I always wanted more children. I didn't think it was healthy for Draco to grow up as an only child, spoiled and entitled, but Lucius refused to even consider having more because he already had his heir and feared that more children would take the focus away from Draco who, naturally, must have as much attention as possible as the Malfoy heir. So you see, you have now become my honorary daughter, the one I never had, and you may want to be prepared that I will begin sending you gifts at school, taking you on shopping excursions on your breaks, and treating you like a daughter. And as a daughter you deserve everything that's in that pile, after all, the mother of a Malfoy must look the part," she finished with a big smile and a wink.

Hermione officially hated the way this pregnancy was affecting her hormones. She was doing altogether too much crying in front of this woman, but she couldn't help it when she was so accepting of her. "Thank you so much."

The conversation ended there and they all opened their gifts. Hermione was amazed and a little intimidated by hers. Narcissa Malfoy certainly wanted her to look the part, as a large portion of her gifts were clothes, and highly expensive ones at that. Though not the clothes she would normally wear, after all she was a practical girl, Hermione had to admit that these clothes were gorgeous, and just conservative enough to pass at school, or on outings with the Malfoys.

"A simple expansion charm should help when you start showing dear. Had I known, I would have chosen more that accentuated the pregnancy," Narcissa explained when Hermione thanked her.

Along with the clothes were several books that Hermione had wanted dearly but that were too expensive for her to buy, and a bracelet that had three diamond flowers, each with four petals, across from the clasp and five diamond butterflies on either side of the flowers. The whole thing was connected with what appeared to be pure gold. When Hermione opened this one she gasped and began shaking her head.

"Mrs. Malfoy I cannot accept this, this is far too much! I will accept everything else, but not this," she protested.

Narcissa got up from her chair and went to Hermione, sitting beside her again and taking the bracelet from the young woman's hands. Slowly and gently, the Malfoy matriarch reached around Hermione's wrist and clasped the bracelet on, saying, "Hermione, this bracelet has been in the Malfoy family since the family began. It has passed down each generation to the next woman, by birth or blood, who could call herself Malfoy. You are the woman chosen by my son to carry on this name."

Narcissa patted Hermione's hand as they looked each other in the eyes. "Regardless of how you feel about it, Draco would not have pursued a relationship with you if he did not believe you were the one. Because you are "the one" there is no one else for this bracelet to go to. The Rule has always been that when the next woman in the family comes of age, or the heir choses a woman, that woman becomes the owner of this bracelet. You have been chosen, so I cannot take it back. The bracelet will protect you and the child. See how the diamond has turned yellow instead of being clear? That is an indicator that you are indeed pregnant, when it is able to tell the gender of the child it will turn pink or blue. It is enchanted to bring you good luck and to help you prosper as a Malfoy."

"Thank you so much, for everything. Really, it means so much to me," Hermione said quietly.

The rest of the weekend with Draco's mother went very well. The three spent most of the time relaxing in the Manor's various rooms, the sitting room, the day room where Narcissa had had a greenhouse attached to the house, and especially the library, where Hermione and Draco would spend hours reading about being parents. They were both sad to be saying goodbye to the Malfoy matriarch on Sunday evening, but knew that the real world awaited them at Hogwarts.

**There's chapter 21. It may seem far-fetched, and it kind of is, but that's the point of fanfiction! Anyway, let me know if it was good or not, and if there's anything you'd like to see happen (I'll take it under advisement, no promises I'll use it!) Hope you liked it! There's a link to the bracelet on my profile!**


	22. Chapter 22

**So I thought that it would be nice to know what Ron's been thinking/up to. Obviously he's unhappy about the situation but you never really get to know what he's feeling so this chapter is just him, no Hermione/Draco interaction.**

**CHAPTER 22**

MEANWHILE…

Ron Weasley had never thought of himself as a jealous person. Misunderstood, yes, a little selfish, yes, maybe even a little dim, but jealous was not in his list of qualities. Ginny's insistence that he was reacting like a spoiled, jealous child in regards to Hermione's new relationship was met by sulking silence, his refusal to acknowledge such a preposterous claim. He was not jealous that Slytherin's Snake Prince had somehow hoodwinked his ex-best friend into going strong with him. He was mad, mad that she had not had the decency to tell her friends this when it happened. He was mad that she had led him on, pretended to like him just to turn around and "hook up" with the mortal enemy of every person in Hogwarts that didn't wear a Slytherin badge, and even some that did. He knew that this little fling would break her heart, that she would come crawling back to him and beg his forgiveness. And when she realized her mistake, he would welcome her with open arms, he would be the mature one and let the past stay where it was meant to, behind them. But at the moment he just didn't think he should have to deal with her naïve ignorance when he knew who her best choice was.

Christmas day found him alone in the boy's dormitory. He had not spoken to Harry in months and when they happened to be in the room together they resolutely ignored the other. Today, he could only assume that the others had already opened their presents and then gone down to breakfast, purposely leaving him out of the celebration, because no one was there and there was still wrapping paper all over the place.

With an almost defeated sigh at the thought of spending Christmas day not only without the two people he'd shared Christmas with for the last seven years, but also without his family, Ron started opening his dismally small pile of presents. He couldn't help the painful tug in his heart when he noticed that there were no presents from Harry, or Hermione, or Ginny, or even the Twins. Clearly word of his behavior had been making its way through the gossip line. While this made him sad, it also made him rather angry, considering Ginny, Fred, and George were his family, they were supposed to back him up, be on his side, buy him presents for Christmas.

Once his presents were opened, and discarded for lack of anything good this year, Ron slumped back on his bed with an exhale of breath. He couldn't believe that Hermione, his Hermione, was carrying the spawn of the pureblood loving git Malfoy. This obviously ill planned out relationship was going to lead her down a path he knew she wouldn't want. _Really_, he decided internally, _who wants to be tied down to Malfoy, with his ungrateful little baby, at the age of seventeen when the whole world is ahead of you? No, this can't be what she wants. She's clearly lying so that he doesn't lose interest too fast. I mean, what about all of her plans for the future? I thought she wanted to go into the ministry right away and get a good job. There's no way she's going to be able to do any of that with a kid on the way, or that lazy pretty boy hanging around her telling her what she can and cannot do. There must be something I can do to rid her of her problem, and to take her away from that git._

These thoughts led to ideas rolling around inside his head, plans that would have the necessary qualities to rid his future wife of her ill-begotten child and her current boyfriend. But he soon realized that none of his plans would work unless he had a partner in crime, someone to take some of the blame if it went south, but also to help carry out the deed. With some surprisingly quick thinking, the ideal person popped into his head. Pansy Parkinson had just a big a grudge against Hermione as he had against Malfoy, not to mention she was in love with the git, surely she would help him. There was also the fact that she had not made nearly as big a scene in front of Hermione and Malfoy and therefore they would be more likely to forgive or dismiss her for what she had said, allowing her to move in and initiate the plan.

A quickly scrawled note requesting her presence in the empty room two doors down from the Charms classroom sent via Pig put Ron's plans were in motion. Twenty minutes later he was sitting on the teacher's desk in the empty classroom, having skipped lunch to get everything in order and underway, watching as the door opened slowly.

"Hello Pansy, it was so nice of you to join me," he said with a smirk.

"What do you want Weasley? What is this urgent matter you wanted me for?" she demanded, clearly not a fan of being in an empty room with a Gryffindor and no backup. "Make it quick, I shouldn't be seen with someone like you."

"I have a plan, a plan that will humiliate Granger and Malfoy, and no doubt force them to never want to see each other again. I asked you here in an attempt to win your assistance in the matter."

"Oh? And how exactly do you plan to humiliate two of the proudest people I've ever seen? Or make them give up this ridiculous infatuation they've developed? They seem pretty attached to each other in my opinion," Pansy asked cynically.

"I can't tell you that unless you agree to help me. It's a rather delicate matter and I can't go blathering to anyone about it, I could get caught before I can go through with it. I mean, obviously if I told you and you said no there would be nothing stopping you from ratting on me to Malfoy, or even McGonagall for that matter. So I kind of need an answer now if you don't mind or the offer is going to be off the table."

"Just a minute Weasley. How do I know this isn't just some sort of ploy to get me into trouble? What guarantee do I have that you're not pulling my chain so to speak? You can't expect me to just jump into this without knowing anything!"

"All you have to know right now is that Hermione and her spawn sired by Malfoy will not be a problem when you go to win Malfoy's icy heart back again."

Ron could tell that these words both intrigued and worried the Slytherin girl. He couldn't help thinking that for a 'devious, deceitful Slytherin', the girl was acting all too cautious. From what he had seen all the times this girl had confronted Hermione, it was not like her to say no to a chance at causing Gryffindor's know-it-all some pain.

"It's not going to kill the wench is it? Because as much as I despise her, I can't condone killing her just to get to Draco."

Ron rolled his eyes at the silliness of her questions. What made her think that he would even consider killing the woman that he was going to end up spending the rest of his life with? Just because they weren't talking right now didn't mean everything wasn't going to work out exactly how he planned it to. "Of course it's not going to kill her, I'm not a murderer, just….an opportunist I suppose. I know what I want and I go for it. Are you in or not? In five seconds this offer is off the table and you will either help me or forget all about this conversation. Choose quickly."

Pansy glared at the red headed boy and crossed her arms. "Fine, I'll help you" she sighed. "But if I get caught or expelled for this I will bring the wrath of the whole Parkinson family down on your head and you will be hunted the rest of your life for making me look the fool. Do you understand me Weasley?"

Ron's smirk was all the answer Pansy needed, but Ron answered anyway, "I understand completely. No one will suspect you, and if everything goes right, no one will suspect me either, so we'll both be off the hook."

"Alright, what do you want me to do?"

**Not as long as it could be, but most of my chapters are kinda shortish, and I actually added almost 500 words more than what it originally was. What did you think? What's going to happen? Hope you liked it! **


	23. Chapter 23

**I am so, so, so sorry that it's been so long. Life has gotten in the way and I didn't really feel motivated enough to write, not just this story but ANY of my stories…plus I've been obsessed with The Walking Dead fanfics on this site and reading those has majorly gotten in the way of writing. Updating for this story will not be regular. After this chapter I am really, really stumped and can't decide what direction to go with the story…so don't expect another update any time soon. I am actually considering putting it up for adoption, along with my Twilight story…if anyone is interested in continuing this story if I decide to let it go, please let me know.**

**CHAPTER 23**

Hermione sighed as she sank down onto the couch in the Heads' common room. It had been a physically and emotionally draining weekend at the Malfoy home and she could do with some relaxation.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked, going to her side after removing his coat and throwing it into his darkened room.

"I'm fine, just a little tired from the weekend."

"Thank you for going with me Hermione. I know you made my mother's…well her whole year really, by telling her about the baby and everything. And I know it must have been difficult for you at first."

"You don't have to thank me Draco, I was hesitant but I'm glad I went now. I think it was important for me to meet your mom, the grandmother of our child, regardless of if we get back together or not." Hermione paused and smirked at the look on his face. "Don't look at me like that Draco. Just because your mother gave me this bracelet and said all that stuff about me being "the one" doesn't mean I'm just going to roll over and take you back!"

"Really? You won't roll over for me? That's rather rude of you Miss Granger, and so unexpected! Is there anything I can do to make you change your mind?" He grinned at her with a wink.

The sexual innuendo was not lost on the brightest witch of her age and she couldn't help the blush and smile that took over her face. "Well now that you mention it, I would roll over….if…."

"If?" he asked excitedly.

"If you were to give me a back massage once I'm there," she teased.

"Well, it's not exactly what I had in mind, but if it'll help you feel more comfortable, and get me back into your good graces, then whatever the lady wishes," he replied.

"Draco, Draco, Draco, you're already in my good graces. That doesn't mean you can get back into my nickers any time soon," she said with a laugh.

Draco laughed with her and began his massage. He'd never done something like this before with any other girl, done something with the sole purpose of making her happy. After half an hour he stopped, realizing that she wasn't making any sounds and her breathing was much more even than it had been. Looking into her face, he smiled when he saw that she was sleeping, her hands folded under her head as a make-shift pillow.

Carefully getting up off the couch so he didn't wake her, Draco watched her for a moment longer before silently picking her up and carrying her to her room. It took some maneuvering but he eventually got the comforter pulled back and laid her down, covering her again and kissing her cheek gently.

"I love you," he whispered before walking from the room, leaving the door slightly ajar. Once back in the common room, he looked around for something to occupy his time. He'd finished all of his holiday work already and did not feel like reading a book. With a smirk he pulled on a jacket and headed for the Slytherin common room. Blaise was still at Hogwarts, and he seriously needed some male bonding time with his best friend. If there was one male in Hogwarts that knew how to truly deal with women and their emotions, it was Blaise Zabini, and Draco was definitely in need of his guidance.

Hermione woke groggily to a darkened room. She didn't remember coming to her room, or falling asleep for that matter. With a yawn and a stretch she pushed the blankets off of herself and got out of bed. A quick glance at her bedside clock told her it was almost time for dinner, so she couldn't have been asleep for very long. The common room was empty when she made her way out of her bedroom, the fire was low too, which meant Draco hadn't been here for a while. With an almost sad sigh, she pulled on a heavy sweater to ward off the chill and made her way downstairs to the Great Hall.

The huge room wasn't full, but it was far from empty. Most of the younger students had gone home for the holidays since they couldn't participate in the ball, so there was a lot of room at the tables. Hermione walked silently toward the Gryffindor table, trying to ignore the looks and sudden silences that accompanied her as she went. A quick search of the table found Harry and Ginny and she sped up fractionally to sit across from them.

"Hey Hermione! How was the weekend at Malfoy Manor?" Ginny asked excitedly.

"It was….wonderful actually. I got myself all worked up for no reason. Narcissa was very nice, and extremely accommodating."

Harry looked up from his food and asked quietly, as if worried of my response, "and what did she say about the baby?"

Hermione's face broke out into an almost radiant smile. "She was happy about it! Can you believe it? I was sure she would curse me into oblivion or something equally horrid, but no! She was excited and happy for us."

"Wow, that's….really surprising," Harry said with a laugh and an obvious sigh of relief. "I'm glad it went so well."

"Me too, I was so worried about how she would see me because of it."

"And you and Draco?" Ginny asked insistently. "How are things going on that front?"

Hermione just smiled and shook her head. "Nothing ground breaking has happened since Friday Gin. Although, Narcissa did give me this bracelet and apparently only the "true love" of the Malfoy heir can wear it. She said…Draco wouldn't have pursued a relationship with me if he did not believe one hundred percent that I was The One."

Both Harry and Ginny gaped at her. "And you didn't immediately take the man back? You're so stubborn Mione!" Ginny said with a laugh.

"Just because I'm The One doesn't mean he shouldn't have to work for me! Besides, we all know that eventually we'll get back together," she said with a wink.

"All I'm saying is you have a lot more resolve than I do! If Harry had told me that he wouldn't have pursued me if I wasn't the one, I would have thrown myself on him immediately and professed my undying love for him. Quite upsetting that you didn't do that actually, would have been a nice twist to the story, added a little character for the grandkids someday," Ginny finished off her tirade almost absently, as if she were far away in the future listening to Hermione's love story as she and Draco told their grandchildren.

"Well, next time it happens I will be sure to remember to react exactly how you would, is that better Gin?" Hermione teased.

The threesome laughed and went back to eating, Hermione suddenly realizing how hungry she was. When dinner was done she stood up and looked around for Draco, ignoring all the sideways looks and inspecting stares she received from her classmates. She spotted him standing from the Slytherin table but before she could wave him over or even head toward him, he was being waylaid by Pansy. Feeling slightly dejected and lonely when he did not immediately brush off the unpleasant Slytherin girl, Hermione made her way back to the Head dorm alone, refusing Harry and Ginny's company with an excuse of exhaustion.

"Look Pansy, I don't really want to deal with you and your problems right now! You've caused nothing but misery to me and have given Hermione no end of trouble either. Just leave us alone," Draco demanded as Pansy stopped him after dinner.

"Draco, please!" The unexpected plea made Draco falter. He'd never heard Pansy say please like this, with this almost apologetic tone of voice. "I…I've had some time to think over everything, and I've been talking to my mother a lot and….I'm sorry, really sorry for everything. I just got so caught up in thoughts of…well us…that I forgot about the fact that it had to be a choice between two people, me _and_ you, and you clearly didn't want what I wanted. I've come to terms with that and realize what a colossal bitch I've been. Anyway, as kind of an apology, mom sent me some of that pumpkin juice from Norway, you know, the kind you like so much? I want you to have it."

Draco was not going to turn down Norwegian Pumpkin Juice, even if it was from Pansy Parkinson. This stuff was the best drink on the planet by far, and was extremely hard to get. "Well…thanks Pansy. I'm not saying I forgive you, but I'll think about it," he said, taking the bottle from his housemate's outstretched hands.

"That's all I ask Draco. Have a good night," she said with a smile before flouncing away toward the dungeons.

Draco watched after her and shook his head with a sign. Some people continuously confused and surprised him. A quick stop off at the kitchens from some goblets and he was headed up to his rooms, and to Hermione.

She was sitting in one of the overlarge chairs waiting for him, clearly pretending to read a book. As soon as the portrait opened she looked up and smiled at him. "Hi," she said. "Didn't see you at all at dinner."

"Yeah, I was talking with Blaise, apparently him and Susan are either getting serious or ready to call it quits, I'm not exactly sure at this point," he said with a laugh. "Anyway, strangest thing just happened. Pansy apologized for the way she's been behaving toward us. She gave me this amazing pumpkin juice as a, well a truce I guess. Want some?" he asked.

"Sure, apparently pumpkin juice is very good for pregnant people." She took one of the goblets from him and held it while he poured the liquid into it. As he filled his own she smelled hers, she had never smelled any pumpkin juice like this.

With a clink of their goblets and a toast to their baby, the two drank. When they'd finished Hermione announced she was off to bed. Kissing her cheek goodnight, Draco walked her to her room before he went to his own.

He was woken much later by the sounds of Hermione's screams.


End file.
